Salsa de tomate

I didn’t go to college to study Spanish or literature. I was a Nutritional Sciences major, one of about 15 other students who studied Nutritional Sciences at Baylor University. We were stashed away in the Family and Consumer Sciences school, which traditionally was regarded as a fluff department and a place where women went to get their MRS, if ya know what I mean (and I think you do). It’s probably easier to get an MRS without paying $10,000 per semester, but hey, what do I know?

There was a certain kind of culture in the FCS department, one that I did not quite fit into, since most of the other girls were in the same sorority, but we did have our own club. The first nutrition club meeting I attended was in the middle of the semester. The club was making this salsa to sell for their annual—or possibly bi-annual, I don’t really recall—fund raiser. The club president told me that the recipe was a club tradition from a cookbook put together by past members of the nutrition club and that she had been making it ever since. So have I. It’s the best salsa that I’ve ever tasted.

You don’t have to roast the garlic and onions, in fact, the original recipe keeps them raw, but I prefer the flavor of the cooked vegetables. It also calls for tabasco sauce, specifically, but you can substitute any hot sauce you want, and I’ve skipped it altogether and just used raw jalapeños instead. It’s an adaptable recipe. Do what you want.

Salsa de tomate

1 28oz. can whole peeled tomatoes

1 14.5oz. can diced tomatoes w/green chilies

1 medium onion

3-4 cloves garlic

1tsp. salt

Hot sauce and cilantro to taste

Halve and peel the onion and place the halves and the unpeeled garlic cloves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Coat the onion and garlic in olive oil and put in a 425 degree oven. Roast until the garlic is soft and let cool until the garlic can be squeezed out of the peel

Drain both cans almost completely. Then empty the cans into a food processor with the onion and garlic.

Add the salt, hot sauce and rough chopped cilantro and blend the whole thing until it reaches your preferred consistency. I prefer a thick gazpacho consistency.

Eat with chips, or on eggs, or on steak. Or whatever food your heart desires.