Fresh Salsa

NOT ONE of these photos have been retouched, lightened, or altered. Maybe they should have been, but I wanted to prove a point. They're straight camera shots. THIS salsa is THAT good. Suck it up, get a food processor (so much better texture than the blender but those'll work in a pinch) and make a batch of perfect classic SALSA!!!

FRESH SALSA

2 cans whole tomatoes

1 cup very coarsely chopped onion

1 medium jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 medium red chile, seeded and chopped (or just another jalapeno or omit entirely for wussy purposes)

2 medium chipotle pepper (seeded if you're a superwus), add a little adobo sauce if you like it smokier and spicier

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

big pinch sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 juice of whole lime

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, more or less to taste

Into a food processor, add one can of tomatoes into the bowl. Add the onion, peppers, garlic, sugar, salt, and lime juice. Process till smooooth. Or as you like... It'll get hit again in a sec.

Reserve the juice from remaining can of tomatoes, add remaining and PULSE until desired consistency, using juice only if necessary. (Salsa will create own juice).

Abuse this, without guilt!, on quesadillas, soft tacos and fajitas, add some with a little cumin when you cook rice as a great Tex-Mex side, drizzle on cheddar omelets,

or just wolf some down on

good tortilla chips!

We usually keep this or the fixins' on hand for emergencies.

I was innocently searching for "chile pepper" and he popped up.

It was too disturbing to me to just leave well enough alone.