- 1½ lbs roma tomatoes, tops removed, quartered & white removed
- 1/4 lb brown or sweet onion, coarse chopped
- 1 large or 2 medium gloves garlic, skinned & chopped
- 1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 to 4 medium size (about 2 inches long) Serrano chiles
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Leaves only from (12 – 18)* sprigs of cilantro
* Cilantro grows with either 5 or 7 leaves on the sprig. For the 5 type use 18 sprigs, for the 7 type use 12 sprigs.
Wear kitchen gloves while handling chiles. Wash and dry chiles, then cut off tops and slice in half lengthwise. Scrape seeds and ribs out of chiles using the tip of a vegetable peeler or very small spoon.
Place half pound of tomato and all the chiles and garlic in a food processor. Pulse blend until the chile and garlic is very well chopped and no large chunks remain. Add remaining ingredients and pulse blend until the salsa is fairly chunky. Taste and add more salt if necessary, blend a little more. Two Serranos makes a mild salsa, three for medium, four for hot. Regular tomatoes may be used but the salsa will be thinner. The riper red or yellow chiles provide a richer taste than the green ones. Best luck in adjusting the heat is had by making two batches. If the 1st batch is too mild, make the 2nd using more chiles and then blend the two batches. If 1st is too hot, reverse the process. As an example, lay out 8 average size chiles and use only 3 for the 1st batch. If 1st is too mild, then make the 2nd batch with 5. If 1st is too hot then make 2nd with only two chiles.
