Recipe Swap: Restaurant-Style Salsa

I love Mexican food. And hot sauce. Anything spicy, really. And usually, the spicier the better. I've been saying for quite some time now that I want to make hot sauce (salsa) at home, because I pretty much hate all the store-bought versions. My mom, however, makes the best hot sauce on the planet and I know I won't be able to make it as good as hers, which is a tragedy in itself. But, when this round of the recipe swap came up and I saw this homemade salsa on Angie's blog, Coffee and Cannolis, I decided it was time to give it a try!

With the exception of me over-filling my food processor and spilling the contents all over my counter when I turned it on, this was super-duper easy to make. Dump in all the ingredients (in two batches, perhaps) and blend. Easy peasy. It looks a lot like my mom's and like what you would find in a good ol' Mexican restaurant, and it tastes pretty close too. Well, not like my mom's, but I wasn't counting too much on that happening - ever. Ha! My jalapeno was a mild one, so the initial batch was a little too tomato-y for me, but that was just the luck of the draw with the pepper. The addition of another helped out with that! Overall this hot sauce has a great flavor and I'm so glad that I decided to make it. J liked it, too, even before adding the additional pepper! So, if you have any desire whatsoever to have restaurant-style hot sauce, I suggest you make this asap! And, keep in mind that it makes a fairly large amount, so if you don't eat hot sauce often you may want to cut the recipe in half.

A big thank you to Sarah, as always, for being our gracious hostess and be sure to check out the other recipes from the swap below!

Restaurant-Style Salsa
As seen on Coffee and Cannolis

Ingredients

• 1 28-oz can whole tomatoes with juice
• 2 10-oz. cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
• ¼ cups chopped onion
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 whole jalapeno*, quartered and sliced thin (I kept the seeds in - you can remove if you want)
• ¼ teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ cups cilantro (more to taste)
• ½ whole lime juice

*Add more jalapeno if you like it spicier, but add just a little at a time so you don't overdo it!

Preparation

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor - in batches if necessary. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like. (If doing in batches, combine together in a large bowl.)
2. Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour then serve with chips, tacos, or any other dish you like hot sauce on!

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