Every questionable culinary empire needs a founding document.
This is it.
No mangoes. No black beans. No mysterious ingredient available only from a shop 90 kilometres away. Just the kind of fresh garden salsa Captain Moonboot could make after wandering outside, discovering that every tomato plant has simultaneously decided today is harvest day, and realizing something must be done before the kitchen disappears beneath tomatoes.
⏱️ Recipe Information
Servings: Approximately 4–6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: None required
Chilling Time: 30 minutes (recommended)
Total Time: 45 minutes
The salsa can be enjoyed immediately, but allowing it to chill for 30 minutes gives the tomatoes, onions, lime and seasonings time to develop their flavours.
Ingredients
- 4 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
- ½ medium red or white onion, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime, about 2 tbsp
- ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cumin, optional
- ½ tsp sugar, optional, if the tomatoes are particularly acidic
Preparation
Dice the tomatoes and place them in a colander for about 10 minutes to drain off some of the excess juice. This helps prevent your fresh salsa from becoming tomato soup with ambitions.
Finely dice the onion. For a milder onion flavour, put the chopped onion in cold water for about 5 minutes, then drain it well.
Remove the seeds and inner membrane from the jalapeño for a mild salsa, or leave some or all of them in if you'd like the salsa to fight back.
Combine the tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic and cilantro in a bowl.
Add the lime juice, salt, pepper and cumin, if using. Mix gently and taste.
If the tomatoes are especially tart, add a small amount of sugar. Don't automatically add it—the tomatoes get a vote.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. An hour is even better. This gives everybody in the bowl enough time to introduce themselves.
Stir again before serving and adjust the salt or lime juice if necessary.
No Cooking Required
That's right. Captain Moonboot has produced an entire recipe without approaching the stove.
This considerably reduces the possibility of adding another chapter to the medical memoir.
Serve with tortilla chips, tacos, grilled chicken, burgers, eggs, baked potatoes or anything else that looks as though it needs tomatoes thrown at it.
🌶️ Moonboot Modification: Choose Your Level of Regret
Margaret Approved: Remove all the jalapeño seeds and membrane and use only half the pepper.
Captain Moonboot: Use the whole jalapeño and leave some seeds and membrane behind.
Questionable Decision: Add a second jalapeño.
Medical Misadventure: Add a habanero and refuse to admit you've made a mistake.
🍅 Garden Modification
During peak tomato season, use whatever ripe tomatoes are coming out of the garden. Roma tomatoes make a thicker, less watery salsa, while larger slicing tomatoes produce something juicier.
Cherry tomatoes can also be quartered and mixed in. Different colours make the salsa look particularly good without requiring Captain Moonboot to possess any additional culinary ability.
🔥 Roasted Moonboot Modification
For a completely different flavour, halve the tomatoes and jalapeño and place them under the broiler with the onion and unpeeled garlic until lightly charred.
Let everything cool, peel the garlic, chop it all and proceed with the remaining ingredients.
Same basic salsa. Considerably more evidence that you know what you're doing.
World HQ Storage Department
Keep the salsa covered in the refrigerator and use it within about 3 days for best quality. Fresh salsa will release more liquid as it sits, so simply drain a little off or stir it back in.
And because this is fresh salsa rather than a tested canning recipe, don't attempt to preserve jars of it at room temperature. Proper canned salsa requires tested acidity and processing instructions.
From the Captain's Log
There is something appropriate about this being Recipe #1.
Captain Moonboot began with a medical disaster. The Making Salsa Tour began with the idea of an audience throwing tomatoes. And now we've arrived at the logical conclusion:
If life keeps throwing tomatoes, bring a basket.
Then add onion, jalapeño, garlic and lime.
That's not adversity. That's lunch. 🍅😁
🚨 WORLD HQ FILING NOTICE: The original placeholder Recipe #1 can officially be replaced by this version in the Moonboot Recipe Bank → Captain Moonboot Project.