I am ready to welcome Taco Tuesday in a big way today! Enchiladas, chicken and beef tacos with yellow rice & refried beans on the menu tonight with lots of fresh, homemade salsa!

Salsa is one of the easiest and most gratifying “sauces” to make, it’s often overlooked when people look to challenge themselves in the kitchen. I often make this mistake as well.

This morning, I planned a quick trip to Publix to grab what I needed to make our tacos tonight and quickly added homemade salsa to the menu! I swung through the produce section and grabbed 3 ripe tomatoes on the vine, a bunch of cilantro, a jalapeno and a big red onion. (I had fresh garlic at home.)

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1/3 red/ Spanish onion
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno
• 2 gloves fresh garlic
• 5-6 sprigs cilantro, leaves removed from stem
• pinch of sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

Let’s get started!

The first thing I did when I got home was to rinse the produce.

Then I put a pot of water to boil and made an “X” on the bottom of each tomato and boiled them for about 3-4 minutes to easily remove the skin. I drained the water and ran cold water over the toms for easier peeling.

I use about 1/3 of the red onion, 5-6 cilantro sprigs, 1/2 the jalapeno (remove the seeds for less heat) and 2 fresh garlic cloves. I roughly chop each item and then throw it all into my food processor and whiz around for a few pulses.

Add the peeled tomatoes, salt & pepper and pinch of sugar and pulse around another 5 times or until the salsa is to the consistency you like. I prefer my salsa to resemble a chuncky gazpacho!

Refrigerate until it’s well chilled and enjoy for the next several days. Perfect on tacos, quesadillas, nachos or just as a dip with salty tortilla chips!

Bon appetit!

Rachel