Salsa fresca

When the tomatoes are heavy on the vine and the farmers markets are overflowing with all the beautiful heirloom varieties, I like to combine a variety of colors, flavors, and textures in a fresh salsa. When purchasing heirloom tomatoes, choose several varieties and sample them throughout the coming week to know what you like and what to buy the next time you shop. Celebrity, Brandywine, Black Krim, Green Zebra, Big Rainbow, Jubilee, and bi-colored Pineapple tomatoes are some of the more common varieties you will find in farmers markets and natural food stores.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (1⁄4 to 1⁄2-inch pieces) assorted heirloom, or other variety, tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup diced red onion
• 1 fresh jalapeño, minced
• 1 fresh serrano chile, minced, optional
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 1⁄2 teaspoon toasted and ground cumin seed
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1⁄3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, packed

Makes 2 1⁄2 cups

Using a sharp knife, as well as carefully cutting the tomatoes with the skin side down, will help the delicate vine-ripened tomatoes hold their shape.

Serve this enzyme-rich condiment as a dip with corn chips, a garnish for grilled meat, fowl, or fish, or put a scoop in an avocado half and enjoy a fresh and healthy snack.

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, gently stir, cover, and let sit at least 10 minutes to marry and deepen the flavors before serving.


Excerpted from The Homesteader's Kitchen: Recipes from Farm to Table by Robin Burnside. Copyright © 2010 by Robin Burnside. Excerpted by permission of Gibbs Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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