I should probably start by telling you why this is The 2nd Best Salsa Ever and not THE Best Salsa Ever.
Years ago we had some neighbors who made The Best Salsa Ever! It was so good that when they gave us a jar for Christmas we wouldn’t waste it on just any chips. We called all over town to find our favorite chips. (now out of commission, otherwise I’d tell you about them.) I was desperate to learn how to make it because I couldn’t bear to eat store bought salsa after eating The Best Salsa Ever.
I asked them for the recipe but they said they didn’t know, they just throw stuff in until it tastes right. I asked them to measure the ingredients before they start and then measure again when they were done to see what was left. They hemmed and hawed but never gave me the recipe. I’m slow, but eventually I figured out that they just didn’t want to share it and I would have to live without.
A few years ago a friend of ours (Hi J!) gave us the recipe I’m going to share with you today. While it’s not quite as good as The Best Salsa Ever it is very close and super, super good. We prefer it to any salsa that comes out of a jar and haven’t yet tasted restaurant salsa that we like any better.
Here’s what you’ll need:
3 ½ to 4 cups cilantro leaves
2 or 3 dried red peppers, at least one without seeds
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 dash of garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 red onion (umm… forgot to put it in the picture. You’ll see it later.)
All of the amounts above can be adjusted to taste. I don’t like a strong onion flavor so I don’t put a ton in. If you like it hotter you can leave the seeds in both peppers or add an extra. Just experiment with the recipe and make it your own.
The first thing you need to do is strip the leaves from the cilantro. This is everyone’s least favorite job. We used to do it by hand, but then I discovered the cool extra tool the people at The Pampered Chef built into their kitchen shears.
All you have to do is put the stem of the cilantro into one of the holes in the handle of the shears. (There are 2 different sized holes so just adjust for the size of the stem.)
Before long you’ll have a blender full of leaves and a pile of naked stems! We still don’t like it but it’s much easier now.
OK, back to the salsa. After you’ve paid one of your kids 5 bucks to strip 3 or 4 cups of cilantro leaves (I just measure using the markings on my blender) you need to cut the onion. I’m sure you could figure this part out on your own but I’m including pictures because I feel bad that I forgot to include it in the ingredients picture. It’s called a red onion, but it’s really more purple. I cut it down to 1/8 and then chop it up a bit more so it doesn’t take as long to get blended up.
Next just dump everything in the blender. It’s really easy to get the seeds out of the red peppers. You just snap them in half and shake. The seeds fall right out.
Now turn on your blender until it turns a beautiful yucky green color. (I think I added a bit too much cilantro.)
I usually taste it at this point and add anything that seems to be missing. We think it tastes better cold and because we’re not particularly patient we throw it in the freezer for a few minutes. But sometimes we can’t even wait that long.
