Cino de Mayo is coming! It’s less than one week away. We base all celebrations around food or we base food around celebrations…whatever…time to pull out the Mexican recipes (none of which are considered “authentic”). This is a very quick and easy salsa recipe that can be made in just a few minutes using canned fire roasted tomatoes. I think you’re going to love it.
I’m diggin’ this product. Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes. If you don’t like the smokey flavor, you can certainly use plain tomatoes. You really should go outside of yourself just this once and give them a try. You can mix and match their assortment of fire roasted flavors (Adobo seasonings- way good). We like heat so I was excited to see the fire roasted tomatoes with Chipotle (pronounced chih-POHT-lay NOT chih-POL-tay). Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeno peppers.
Next you will need a 12- oz can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. Rotel brand is the most often used. I just happen to see the Hatch brand with a medium heat and thought I’d try it. I liked it.
To the tomatoes you will add onions, garlic, Serrano Chiles (or you can use jalapeno peppers whatever you like), salt, cumin, line juice and a lot of cilantro.
I think I might have already introduced you to my favorite kitchen toy. My husband gave it to me for Christmas. He loves me…this is proof. I get more excited over kitchen toys than shoes. If you have a food processor, use it. If not, you can do this in a blender.
Time to prep everything. Remember “mise on place”? Do it. Mince the garlic. I used a garlic press you can smash it then chop it if you’d like. Don’t add the garlic whole, because you will end up with a knicked chunk of garlic in your salsa.
Cut the stems off of the chile’s then throw them out.
Cut the chiles in half. Do you see the seeds and veins? You have a choice. If you love heat, keep them. Now these two tiny Serrano’s pack a lot of heat. If you are a pansy, just use one or opt for a Jalapeno.
Another option for pansies…remove the seeds and veins that are inside the chile. Just take a knife and scrape them out. I guess those little seeds pack a lot of heat in them so removing them will make the salsa milder.
Chop.
Chop the onion. I really like using red onions, but the reds in the grocery store were looking pretty sad so I chose a good looking yellow onion instead.
Chop cilantro. Love the cilantro.
In the bowl of a food process, add the fire roasted tomatoes.
Add the can of fire roasted tomatoes with chipotle peppers.
Add the tomatoes with green chiles…
…chopped onions…
…Serrano chiles…
…minced garlic…
…cilantro…
…salt…
…cumin…
…lime juice…
Put the lid on the food processor.
Pulse until you reach the consistancy that you like the best. Chunky, smooth or something inbetween. I don’t care. It’s your salsa. Make it the way you like it.
That’s it! See that was quick and easy. Best of all you can adjust the flavors and consistancy to your liking. My way is really good. You should try it first. This makes a boat load, about 6 1/2 cups (I measured).
I’m digging in!
Great salsa! You should make it for your Cinco de Mayo celebration.
Fire Roasted Salsa
1 28-ounce can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 14.5- ounce can Fire Roasted with Chipotle Peppers (or reg. canned tomatoes)
1 12-ounce can diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles (Rotel)
½ cup chopped onion2 cloves garlic
1-2 Serrano Chiles
1/3 cup lime juice (juice from 1 whole lime)
1 cup cilantro, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
Combine the canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, chiles, lime juice, cilantro, salt and cumin in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse all the ingredients together to desired consistency. This will make approximately 6 ½ cups of salsa (a boat load).
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Could this recipe be canned?
Hi again, Janet. SO nice of you to have taken the time to respond to my question…and so quickly too. Yes, what you said makes total sense. I suspected you did the prep work to avoid an end product of salsa, not soup. Plus a clove of garlic can be a slippery little dude!:D I can't wait to get that processor! When I do, I will return to your posts for more recipes. Thank you! Till then I'll be cutting and chopping by hand for this delicious salsa–in time for Cinco de Mayo 2012. Robin
P.S. I meant to comment on the beautiful photos you included with the recipe. Nice!
Thank you, Robin, for your kind comments. It just hit me that I have made this recipe in a blender as well. If you have a blender, just pulse the ingredients until it reaches the consistency that you want. That way you don't have to spend hours chopping. I used to chop my pico. I was so particular to get the pieces even that it took forever. Then I had a fit when the family ate it in 15 minutes. Good luck.
Hi, Janet. I found this post because I've been searching for information on the Cuisinart 16-cup food processor. Your salsa recipe looks great and I'm anxious to try it. Until I get a food processor like yours, I'll be doing all of the prep work by hand, which leads me to a question…your photos show you cutting the onions and cilantro, etc. and then putting them in the processor bowl. Is there a reason you didn't you use the processor start-to-finish? (It seems like it would be faster, but since I've never owned a food processor I don't know! You probably have a good reason for not using it till the end to pulse everything together.) Thanks for illuminating me!
Yes, there is a reason that I pre-chopped, especially with garlic. If you through in a whole piece of garlic, sometimes it will just spin around the processor and doesn't fully chop. I just wanted to the pieces pulsed to get an even chop. If I threw in the onion and pepper it could take too much processing time to get the consistancy. I didn't want to puree the onion. Does this make sense. Once you get a food processor and play with it you will understand me a bit more. I probably didn't need to chop as fine as I did. It's like when I was the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher??? It just puzzles my husband.
This will keep for a good two weeks in the refrigerator.
How long does this salsa keep for in the fridge?
The Cuisinart was purchased through Williams-Sonoma. It is the newest model# FP-16DC
It is the 16-cup Elite Cuisinart Die-cast food processor. I hope this is enough information.
wich Cuisinart model is it?
Summer! So glad you're blogging. I'll add you to my blogroll. Love your blog. So much fun to see your girls- darling! Great to hear from you.
Of course my #1 food idol has a foodie blog! I cook so many of your divine things all the time, you introduced me to molten cake! I too have one http://www.krazycakelady.blogspot.com so glad I found you!
Summer Perry