OHC's Garden Fresh Salsa Recipe

One of my favorite past times is making fresh salsa right from my own personal garden. There is a great deal of satisfaction that can be derived from watching all of the different ingredients go from seeds in my garden into the smiling faces of my wife and children on movie night! A lot can be said about doing things the hard way, but for anyone who has put forth the effort, it's well-worth the sweat. Below is a particular favorite recipe of mine, so I hope you enjoy!

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Ingredients:

6-8 large tomatoes

6-8 jalepeno peppers (seeded and deveined) *If you like your
salsa hot, leave some of the seeds in the mix.

1 cup chopped red onion (yellow onion is okay too, but I prefer red because it is sweeter)

1 large green bell pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice

5-6 large cloves of garlic, or 6-7 teaspoons of garlic from the jar if fresh is not on hand

1/2 cup chopped parsley, or 1/4 cup dried parsley

1/4 cup (3 ounces) tomato paste salt to taste


Directions:

Chop tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, bell pepper and garlic. Add to large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. This recipe makes 6-8 cups of salsa.

If you prefer a finer salsa, you can puree the salsa ingredients in a food processor. You can also thicken salsa by adding extra tomato past, but this will also make the salsa sweeter. If the salsa is sweeter than you like, simply add a combination of more onion and jalepeno peppers!

Some people enjoy additional ingredients in their salsa as well, such as cilantro which makes a fine addition. This is okay! Experiment! It's all about what you like, so don't be afraid to take a few liberties to suit your own taste. The fresh ingredients are what's going to make the difference here, and a recipe such as this one lends itself well to that idea.

So enjoy!

Charles Ham
Owner of OHC