As summer’s end nears, we are left with the last few bites of the season to savor. I feel like a bit of a hoarder whenever I go to the markets this time of year and I see the beautiful heirloom tomatoes, the beautiful Hatch chiles, fresh herbs and all the other goodness. I can’t help myself. I want it all.
What better way to enjoy the final tastes of summer than a perfect fresh homemade salsa. For me, though I love a chunky, classic-style pico de gallo, what I don’t love is the amount of time all of the chopping takes. This restaurant-style salsa is a smoother, classic salsa and it is a cinch to whip up.
When Blendtec offered to send me one of their beautiful high-powered blenders, I immediately became excited about all of the possibilities. The middle of the road KitchenAid blender we got for our wedding 7 years ago, was nearing the end of it’s life and though it’s made literally hundreds and hundreds of smoothies, it also never overly impressed me, it was no powerhouse and it definitely couldn’t handle anything too thick.
For the past few months, besides the assumed smoothies, which have never been better, I’ve been putting my new Blendtec to the test, making nut milks, nut butters, soups, sauces and everything in between. I have to say, this blender has far exceeded my expectations.
This salsa is a total breeze with the Blendtec. Very little prep needed and honestly, if you made a half batch, you could even purée it all in one go. I like my salsa to have a little texture, so I give it a couple rounds to keep it from becoming totally puréed.
** BONUS: Stay tuned for a giveaway later this week where I partner with Blendtec to bring one very lucky reader their very own Blendtec Designer 725 High Speed Blender and Twister Jar!**
[print_this]How-to Make Restaurant Style Salsa
makes 6-7 cups
- 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 3 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored, halved or quartered, squeeze out extra water and seeds*
- 2-4 fresh peppers of your choice, bell peppers, jalapeños, Anaheim, etc*, seeds removed (raw or roasted)
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped (optional)
- 1 tablespoon chile powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Add the onions and garlic to the blender. Pulse 5-6 times until roughly chopped. Remove and set aside. Add the tomatoes and pulse a few times until rocky chopped/puréed. Then add the onions and garlic back, the roughly chopped peppers, lime juice, cilantro and seasonings. Pulse another 5-10 times until ingredients all come together. (You can puree this salsa completely, if you’d like, but I like mine to have some texture. Taste salsa and add seasonings if desired. Store chilled in airtight container.
You can serve this salsa immediately but the longer it sits (in the refrigerator) the better it is. I usually make this the night before I plan to serve it.
Optional add-ins to mix in either before or after blending:
- Roasted tomatillos
- Avocado
- Roasted corn
- Black beans
- Green onions
- Fresh fruit like pineapple or mango
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Notes:
You can opt for canned tomatoes and canned chiles if fresh are not in season.
You can opt for fresh or roasted peppers. I went with 3 fire-roasted hot Hatch chile peppers, that I peeled, de-seeded and roughly chopped before adding.
If you halve the recipe you can just can add all the ingredients at the same time if you want, pulse a couple times and bam, salsa in seconds.
I am sure this salsa could be canned/preserved, for those of you that are into preserving, though I’ve never done it myself, so I cannot offer any tips or instructions on how-to.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blendtec. I received a Blendtec blender to test and review. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that allow me to create new and special content like this for Tasty Yummies.
