Coco's Salsa

Now that this has happened:

A stack of seven copies of my thesis, ready for a trip to
the Psychology Department and Graduate Studies

I have time to do things I like again. Like make Mexican food.

I can't take credit for much beyond the photos here, because the recipe is a treasure from the Poolman family, courtesy of a neighbour.

Ingredients:

1. 6 medium-size tomatoes
2. 1-2 jalapeno peppers
3. 1-2 cloves of garlic
4. 3/4 cup cilantro leaves
5. 1 tsp salt

The recipe recommends getting bargain tomatoes from the old-food section, but I am using the only tomatoes I could find. Test the jalapenos for heat; I ended up using one big jalapeno but because it was pretty mild I threw in some seeds too.

Wash the tomatoes, remove any green stems, and arrange them on a baking tray. Bake at 250˚F for about 2 hours, until they begin to brown.

Allow the tomatoes to cool for a bit, and when they're cool enough to touch remove their skins and cores, working over a bowl so as not to lose any juices. Cut open each tomato to separate the seeds and juice from the meat.

Juice

Place the meat in a food processor and gently pulse until it has broken up into small chunks. You could also do this by hand, but I was way too lazy. Add the chunks back into the bowl.

Put the tomato mixture into the refrigerator, and mince garlic and jalapeno. Cut cilantro leaves coarsely.

When the tomatoes have cooled to at least room temperature, add cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, and salt. Stir to combine.

It's best with a bit of time in the fridge to let the flavours mingle, but is also delicious right away.