To each their own salsa

Salsa is one of those foods that I think almost anyone can like. It can be paired with a million things, from chips to burritos (Or if you're like my dad, you can just eat it straight). And if you're not using salsa that's loaded with sugar, it can be really healthy.


Whatever your reasons for loving salsa, whatever brand you buy, recipe you make, whatever you pair it with, or don't pair it with, you probably have some love for salsa and some fond memories that involve the delicious concoction. ..I certainly do. And that is why I would like to tell you, very briefly, of my most recent salsa experience.


A couple days ago, my wonderful friend of many years, Meghan, invited me over to her apartment for chips and salsa after class. I was excited because, well, I really love salsa, and Meghan is getting pretty damn good at making it. SO after class, I went over to her place and she pulled a container of salsa out of the fridge that she had made the day before. It was fantastic. Then after sampling that, I helped her chop up some veggies while she made another, different, batch. This second batch was also incredibly yummy.


As I sat there, munching away, I really got to thinking about salsa. Meghan has a completely different way of making salsa than I do. Our salsas, although both flavorful and classically salsa, taste and look very different. She uses fresh tomatoes; I use canned. She uses yellow pepper; I use red. She adds avocado; I add cilantro and black beans.


This experience, along with many of my other salsa moments, made me realize how many variations there must be on the dish (a whole lot). And I thought, wow, wouldn't it be cool to travel around sampling salsas far and wide? For me, and I'm sure many of you, this dream is unfortunately not going to happen in the near future. So please, if you have a favorite salsa recipe, favorite brand, pairing of salsa and something else, favorite place to eat it, a good salsa story, a salsa philosophy, special ingredient, or anything else, please comment (or at least send me the recipe so I can try it). By sharing we can all have a salsa journey right here at home.


Here is my salsa recipe:

Salsa
1 can tomatoes (drain off juice into a separate container and then chop up tomatoes - if you were to use all the juice in the can, you're salsa would be too liquidy)

½ onion chopped

1 or 2 cloves garlic

½ red pepper chopped

4-5 jalapenos chopped

several dashes of hot sauce (I personally like a bunch of dashes)

1 lime juiced

1/3 - ½ can black beans

¼ cup frozen corn

¼ tsp of the following: chili powder and ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro