My next door neighbor walked out to her backyard one day and noticed a little green plant that was growing out of the rain gutter above her bedroom window. Upon closer inspection, what she actually had was a small tomato plant. “A gutter tomato!” she joked, as she and her son transplanted it into a large pot.
After tending to this and several other tomato plants, she started to get quite a harvest, which she very generously shared with me.
And what does one do when they have an abundance of tomatoes that they need to use up? One makes salsa. Or at least one should, because it is so easy to make and so unbelievably delicious when fresh.
Ingredients
• 4 medium gutter tomatoes (substitute any medium red tomato on hand if you don’t have the gutter variety.)**
• 1 handful of cherry or grape tomatoes**
• 1/2 white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 handful fresh cilantro
• Juice from half a lemon (or lime, whichever you have!!)
• 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
• Jalapeño pepper to taste
Directions
Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix.
That’s it. You literally just push a button for a few seconds and you end up with delicious, fresh salsa. Why buy salsa from the store?
** If you do not have any fresh tomatoes on hand, substitute a 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes (diced, halves, or whole it doesn’t matter) and it will still taste great!
