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Salsa Fresca

Probably the quickest salsa you can make and a fresh, delicious one for chips or simply cooked fish or chicken. Best with good fresh tomatoes, but still decent with canned (and definitely better with canned than with hard, unripe “fresh”).

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

2 large ripe fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/2 large white onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic, or to taste
1 habanero or jalapeño chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice or 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Combine all the ingredients, then taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

    Step 2

    If possible, let the flavors marry for 15 minutes or so before serving, but by all means serve within a couple of hours.

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
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