¡Picánte!

From the Food desk:

I've said it before - I'm a pot cook.  No, not a dopehead, just someone who throws ingredients together to create something tasty.  And in so doing, I rarely use any measuring devices, other than to determine how large or how many containers I need to store or freeze my latest creation.  I don't do baking, because it's much more exacting as to amounts, temperatures, and time.  Women can do baking.

Tonight's was an especially good batch of homemade salsa, yielding about a quart and a half.  Here's what went into it:

• 8 Roma tomatoes
• 5 seedless black grapes
• 3 Serrano peppers
• 3 small garlic cloves
• 2 Anaheim peppers
• 2 sweet banana peppers
• 1 gold bell pepper
• 1 tomatillo
• 1/2" slab of sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 nectarine
• 1 Bosc pear
• 1 chunk dried mango from Sprouts
• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies & onions (the preservatives help the fresh batch keep longer - although I drain off part of the juice)
• 1-1/2 tsp turbinado sugar
• Dash of lemon juice
• Sprinkle of dried cilantro
• Coarse black pepper

I chop most of it fairly coarsely, running the remainder through the blender.  Because I have a healthy respect for the e coli, salmonella and other nasties (even though I thoroughly wash all the ingredients before cutting them), I heat the whole batch to about 180° for several minutes before putting it into glass jars and refrigerating.

This stuff is so good that tortilla chips are just a delivery mechanism.  The flavor profile starts off a bit sweet, but then the fire kicks in - but not too much. ¡Muy sabroso!