one half or one whole jalapeno, de-seeded

garlic (I usually use anywhere from a tsp to a tbsp, from a jar of minced)

cilantro

*You may want to add red onion, hubby doesn’t care for it, so I leave it out or add very little.

Once that is all ground, I add tomatoes. That’s it! Then you process it to be as fine or as chunky as you want it to be. I’m so picky that now, I won’t usually even make it if I can’t find good summer tomatoes. Which basically means we go about half the year not eating salsa or bruschetta. My preference is the Herr’s or Grande chips, just be aware that they are pretty salty, so I adjust my salt as such. I made this for my family when we were out in Arizona, and they really liked it. And, I forgot the garlic. It was very good on a tortilla chip with guacamole.

For bruschetta, you just make a few adjustments. No cilantro, use basil instead. Use lemon instead of lime. Use white onion instead of red, and also add some parmesan, some balsamic vinegar and a few tsps of olive oil. Oh, and skip the jalapeno. Spoon on to toasted bread and you’re done. It’s super yummy spooned on to a good garlic bread.

For the bruschetta, you can also add rosemary, capers, olives or anything other additive that will match. If you find awesome seasonal yellow & heirloom tomatoes, wow! I can make a meal on this.

It’s really very hard to mess this up. I’ve even turned it into gazpacho after botching a batch. Can you use canned tomatoes? I don’t know, I’ve never tried. These are both also great garbage day recipes. I often (don’t tell my hubby!) scrape the bad/soft spots off of produce and make a batch. It’s a great way to throw these things together instead of throwing them out.

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