# fresh tomato sauce and salsa



## ro-h2o (Feb 21, 2005)

I am being over run with tomatoes and would love 2 make a "new recipe" fresh salsa and pasta sauce. I have in my garden at my disposal onions, 4 kinds of peppers, 2 herb boxes, squash, zuks, cucs and some corn that has not been picked yet. So if you would like to give up a good recipe I will put it to good use.

Thx Scott


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

ro-h2o said:


> I am being over run with tomatoes and would love 2 make a "new recipe" fresh salsa and pasta sauce. I have in my garden at my disposal onions, 4 kinds of peppers, 2 herb boxes, squash, zuks, cucs and some corn that has not been picked yet. So if you would like to give up a good recipe I will put it to good use.
> 
> Thx Scott


VERY simple on the salsa. This is normally called "Pico De Gallo".

Dice up the tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Add some Cilantro, lime or lemon juice and a little salt. It's ready to go. If you don't have any hot peppers, you can add a little ground red pepper as well.

You can make 2 batches and add corn to the second one. Even black, pinto or other similar beans can be added. The first one is great over eggs in the morning, or over a cheese omelet. Green onions with tops can be added as well.


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## saltandsand (Nov 29, 2007)

sprtsracer said:


> VERY simple on the salsa. This is normally called "Pico De Gallo".
> 
> Dice up the tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Add some Cilantro, lime or lemon juice and a little salt. It's ready to go. If you don't have any hot peppers, you can add a little ground red pepper as well.
> 
> You can make 2 batches and add corn to the second one. Even black, pinto or other similar beans can be added. The first one is great over eggs in the morning, or over a cheese omelet. Green onions with tops can be added as well.


When's breakfast served? I'm there!

Dang green tomotoes still ain't ready for picking here...


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## kooler (Nov 2, 2006)

a mighty fine problem to have id say. i have been oven roasting tomatoes. slice tomatoes, onions, peppers. lay on baking sheet, add a little olive oil or vinigar/oil dressing, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. roast at 275 to 300 till all the juice is dry. stir several times to keep from sticking. they shrink down to less than half so when you prepare, fill your oven up. makes for some pretty intense tomatoes, good on toast, condiment with meat, etc..enjoy..


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

Sliced tomatoes, drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar and some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, along with some fresh Mozzarella and Fresh basil leaves makes a heck of an appetizer also!!!


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## gus (Jan 24, 2002)

can it

Making and canning your own salsa is something families remember years later. No store bought salsa, even if it is shipped from Texas, compares with the taste of that made from your own tomatoes from your garden or fresh-picked from a local farm! In the middle of the winter, you can have tortilla chips and your salsa and taste the summer flavor of fresh tomatoes.
Here's how to do it, in easy steps and completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do this! It's a great thing to do with your kids!
Ingredients and Equipment
Tomatoes - about 20 lbs (yes, you need a big basketful - you remove the skins, seeds and a lot of the water, so it takes a lot to start.) This makes about 9 pints of salsa! If you only want to make a single jar, see this page instead! 
Salsa mix or your own seasonings. The Ball salsa mix sells for about $2.00 to $4.00 per packet. A packet will make about a 7 pint jars. See below for seasonings. 
1 Water bath Canner (a huge pot to sterilize the jars after filling (about $30 to $35 - $30 at mall kitchen stores, Wal-Mart. Note: we sell canners, supplies and kits through our affiliates: click here or see the bottom of this page) Tomatoes are on the border between the high-acid fruits that can be preserved in a boiling-water bath and the low-acid fruits, vegetables and meats that need pressure canning Pint canning jars (Ball or Kerr jars can be found at Publix and Wal-Mart - about $8 per dozen jars including the lids and rings). Be sure to get wide mouth jars to fit the pickles in! Pint size works best! 
Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They may only be used once. 
Rings - metal bands that secure the lids to the jars. They may be reused many times. 
Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars) 
Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sterilize them. ($2 at Wal-Mart) 
1 large pot. 
Large spoons and ladles 
Jar funnel ($3-$4 at Wal-Mart) 
Process - How to Make salsa from Fresh Tomatoes
Step 1 - Selecting the tomatoes
It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality tomatoes! 
At right is a picture of tomatoes from my garden - they are so much better than anything from the grocery store. And if you don't have enough, a pick-you-own farm is the pace to go! At right are 4 common varieties that will work: 
Top left: Beefsteak	Top right: Lemon Boy, yellow
Bottom left: Roma, paste-type	Bottom right: Better Boy




The picture at left shows the best variety of tomato to use: Roma; also called paste tomatoes. they have fewer sides, thicker, meatier walls, and less water. 
Also, you don't want mushy, bruised or rotten tomatoes!
Step 2 - Removing the tomato skins
Here's a trick you may not know: put the tomatoes, a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for no more than 1 minute (30 - 45 seconds is usually enough)
then.... 


Plunge them into a waiting bowl of ice water.

This makes the skins slide right off of the tomatoes! If you leave the skins in, they become tough and chewy in the sauce, not very pleasant.
Step 3 - Removing seeds and water
After you have peeled the skins off the tomatoes, cut the tomatoes in half. Now we need to remove the seeds and excess water. 




Step 4 - Squeeze of the seeds and water
Just like it sounds: wash your hands then squeeze each tomato and use your finger or a spoon to scoop and shake out most of the seeds. You don't need to get fanatical about it; removing just most will do.

Step 5 - Drain and dice the tomatoes
Toss the squeezed (Squozen?  tomatoes into a colander or drainer, while you work on others. This helps more of the water to drain off. You may want to save the liquid: if you then pass it through a sieve, screen or cheesecloth, you have fresh tomato juice; great to drink cold or use in cooking!
Next chop them up - I like 1/2 inch size cubes. 


Step 6 - Get the jars and lids sterilizing
The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sterilize" cycle. I get that going while I'm preparing everything else, so it's done by the time I'm ready to fill the jars. 
Be sure to let it go through the rinse cycle to get rid of any soap!

Lids: Put the lids into a pan of boiling water for at least several minutes. 
Note: everything gets sterilized in the water bath (step 7) anyway, so this just helps to ensure there is no spoilage later!)


Step 7. Mix or your own seasoning?
Either works equally well. The salsa mix for canning has the advantage of being tested and easy. It's basically corn starch, onion powder, salt and seasoning. It doesn't have any preservative to improve the canning, so the advantage is only that it is easier. However, I like my custom-made from fresh seasonings better, so here is the recipe for that:
I use an electric chopper (food processor) to dice the seasonings fairly fine, about 1/8 inch cubes.




3 cups chopped onions	1 Tablespoons of oregano
2 cloves of garlic, minced	1 cup diced assorted mild peppers (red, yellow, orange, banana, whatever you have)
1/4 cup diced, fresh cilantro	1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup diced celery	1 to 4 diced jalapeño peppers - I only use one because I like it mild.
1 tablespoon salt (optional - I don't put any in!)	3 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste - if you like a richer thicker flavor and texture
1 cup 5% apple cider vinegar (or 2 cups of lemon juice)	Optional: 1 Tablespoon ground cumin

Either works fine!



Step 8 - Mix ingredients in the pot and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer
<-- Start with the chopped tomatoes in the pot...

Add the seasonings and bring to a gentle simmer, just to get it hot - there's no need to cook it; only to get it hot enough to ready it for water bath processing to kill any bacteria and enzymes..






Taste it as it cooks. If you like the sauce hotter, add 1 Teaspoon of chili powder.
And if you like your salsa thick, add 4 Tablespoons corn starch, dissolved in the vinegar before adding to the mix. 



Step 9 - Fill the jars with sauces and put the lid and rings on
Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, seat the lid and hand-tighten the ring around them. 
Be sure the contact surfaces (top of the jar and underside of the ring) are clean to get a good seal! 

Step 10 - Boil the jars in the canner
Put them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water. Keep the water boiling. Process the jars in a boiling-water bath for 15 minutes for 8 oz and pints and 20 minutes for quarts. If you have a pressure canner, use it and process the sauce for 10 minutes for pint jars and 15 minutes for quarts, at a pressure of 10 to 11 pounds. Remember to adjust the time if you are at a different altitude other than sea level! 
I prefer a pressure canner or a taller water bath canner, shown at right - To order one, see the bottom of this page or Canning supplies!



Step 9 - Done
Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, the that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok. 


Ingredients
•	10 cups roughly chopped tomatoes 
•	5 cups chopped and seeded bell peppers 
•	5 cups chopped onions 
•	2 1/2 cups hot peppers, chopped, seeded 
•	1 1/4 cups cider vinegar 
•	3 garlic cloves, minced 
•	2 tablespoons cilantro, minced 
•	3 teaspoons salt 
•	1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste 
Directions
1.	1
Combine all ingredients except tomato paste in large sauce pot. 
2.	2
Simmer until desired thickness. 
3.	3
Stir in tomato paste. 
4.	4
Ladle hot salsa into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head-space. 
5.	5
Process 15 minutes in a hot water bath. 
6.	6
Note: use more hot peppers for a very hot salsa or less for mild. 
7.	7
It depends on how hot your peppers are and how hot you like your salsa. 
8.	8
I never get close to 2 1/2 cups for our mild salsa.


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## gus (Jan 24, 2002)

lazy salsa recipe - yum good

Lazy Salsa
Salsa Huevona 
Makes 2 ½ cups, serving 6 generously

________________________________________
INGREDIENTS
4 medium-small, red-ripe round tomatoes (about 1 ½ pounds)
1 medium onion, cut in half
3 or 4 jalapeños, stemmed
4 garlic cloves
Salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Charring the ingredients. Light a charcoal fire and let the coals burn until they are covered with gray ash; position the grill grate and let it heat for a couple of minutes. Lay on the tomatoes, onion halves, jalapeños and garlic. (To keep the garlic from dropping through and to make cleanup easy, I typically lay one of those perforated grill pans on the grill grates, heat it up, then lay on the vegetables.) Grill the ingredients, turning occasionally, until they are well charred—about 10 minutes for the garlic, 15 minutes for the chiles and 20 minutes for the tomatoes and onions. As they are done remove the ingredients to a rimmed baking sheet. Let cool. Peel the garlic. If you wish, you can pull the charred skins off the tomatoes.
2. Finishing the salsa. In a food processor, combine the garlic and chiles. Pulse until coarsely pureed. Add the tomatoes and any juices that have collected on the baking sheet, and pulse until roughly chopped. Chop the charred onion and place in a bowl. Stir in the tomato mixture, along with a little water (usually about 2 tablespoons), to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency. Taste and season with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon.


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## gus (Jan 24, 2002)

bean salsa

INGREDIENTS
•	1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas 
•	1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 
•	1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained 
•	1/2 cup chopped onion 
•	1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 
•	1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers 
•	1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained or fresh chopped tomatoes is better
•	1 cup Italian-style salad dressing 
•	1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 


DIRECTIONS
1.	In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian-style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.


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