The Great Salsa Adventure

When Brandon and I started dating he took me to a magical hole in the wall Mexican restaurant called Red Chile in Cerritos. It was pretty close to both of our houses, so we went there quite often. The food is very good, but the biggest standout is the salsa. We believe it's made on the premises, and they store it in big milk jugs. Many a time he pondered what it would take to steal or buy one of those jugs, but he never followed through. It's a blended salsa roja rather than a chunky fresh salsa. Since the restaurant is pretty far from where we live now, we very rarely get a chance to indulge in this delicious salsa, so Brandon has been on a quest to find something similar ever since. This past weekend he finally tried his hand at making it himself. He succeeded.

This was his first attempt at salsa and the result makes me suspect he's got a bit of Mexican DNA hidden in him somewhere. At first he bought some fresh tomatoes but changed his mind and switched to canned, stewed, in order to pull out a deeper flavor. He ended up making two batches. When I tasted the first batch he asked what was missing, because the flavor was THERE, immediately, but there was something else missing. It was the heat. Salsa should be spicy going down, but the heat should also linger on the tongue for a while rather than just disappear. He considered putting in a third jalapeño, but I suggested a good old Chipotle minicube. That did the trick. It was absolutely perfect.

Ingredients

• 1 28 oz can whole stewed tomatoes
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 2 whole jalapeños
• ½ white onion
• 2 tbsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 Knorr Chipotle minicube
• juice from 1 key lime
• 4 dashes Crystal hot sauce

Throw it all in the food processor, tomatoes and paste first, then the dry ingredients. Pulse until desired consistency is acheived.

Serving suggestion:

Closeup shot (Travis's favorite part of the blog):

I am rating it as healthy because the salsa itself doesn't really contain anything bad. I used it on a chicken and spinach salad last night, which was healthy and zesty. However, if you eat it with chips... you're sliding head first into the dirty zone, my friend. It's well worth it, though!