Canning Homemade Salsa

Thursday, June 2nd, 6:30 PM I'll be teaching a 

Basics of Home Canning class with  at Preparing Wisely

(144 S Mesa Dr, Mesa, AZ) 

I was on on Valley Dish  Tuesday making Skillet Enchilada Casserole . It's not only awesome in the Dutch oven while camping, but also amazing any night of the week.  I made the skillet meal using some of my homemade roasted tomato salsa, I thought it would be perfect to share the recipe here today! What do you think? Salsa season? Um yes!  Especially since the salsa I love and use has been completely depleted  by my salsa freak  adoring husband. Normally that is okay, but when I'm thinking I have a certain ingredient only to find it snorted down and gone...well let's just say I was a little flustered.  I needed to make some anyway, right?! Okay. Perk for you! I'm sharing the recipe. See...something good has come from Ace loving salsa...besides a tortilla chip famine. 

 Remember when I was hard core working on Organic Tomato Farming with Jim and I had a bazillion of these? Well, I think we're heading that way again.  If you don't have access to tons of tomatoes you grow personally, there's always the farmer's markets and local veggie stands. 

I came up with a recipe back  that made Ace literally drink bottles of salsa. He's a salsa boy. Honestly I couldn't decide if I wanted to share the recipe here on the blog or save it for bottling and selling across the country or at farmer's markets. Um...yes, we like it that much. However, I think it's safe to say that I can share a version here that's so close it's almost it...but not give away all my tricks, right?  It's a medium heat salsa I custom designed for Ace who doesn't like a lot of cilantro in his salsa. I'm a cilantro girl. I like a lot of chunks in my salsa too, but if you prefer a smoother salsa, you'll need to puree it. Ace also doesn't like, ironically, a lot of peppers in his salsa, so this one have very few. I roasted my tomatoes in the solar oven and then finished cooking the salsa on the stove. 

 Home Canning Safety 101 is a good place to start if you've never done any home canning. You'll need some equipment for this if you want it to be safe to feed to your family after sitting on the shelf.  

Chef Stephanie Petersen's 

Roasted Tomato Fajita Salsa

6 lb  blanched tomatoes , peeled half pureed, half rough chopped

2 medium onions, diced (1T olive oil)

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/2 cup roasted mild Hatch green chiles, peeled and seeded

1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2T Chef Tess All-purpose-seasoning

1T fresh cracked black pepper

2tsp fresh ground coriander seeds

1T salt

2T dry cilantro

Directions:

In a heavy 2 gallon stock pot over high heat. Add olive oil. Put onions in pan. Do not stir for 5 minutes until one side of the onions are very dark brown (as you would for fajitas). Add the garlic and cook 2-3 minutes.  Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer 20 minutes uncovered until thickened. Place salsa in sterile canning jars with 1/2 inch head space. Process 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quart jars.

Hide them from Ace.  Share them with the ones you love. 

 There you go. If you go camping often, make the Enchilada Tortilla Casserole in the skillet. Tuesday's show recipes are here. The enchilada skillet meal is amazing for the fact that it's fast, easy and daggumit...a freakin' awesome family favorite!  Anyone can make it!