Salsa... heirloom tomatoes

I haven't made salsa in a while, but have been busy with citrus relishes (relish=buzz word for chunky elegant sauces). The other day I got nostalgic (after listening to The Clash's London Calling - LOVE that song!) for some down-home salsa and tried to reproduce, from spotty memory, a simple salsa someone in San Diego used to make for me all the time, circa 90's. I bought these striking groovy Heirloom Tomatoes to make a modern lavish heirloom version of that San Diego salsa - should be called 'My 90's Chula Vista Salsa.' It was SO GOOD!

Okay, this is 100% from memory (a decade and a half ago!) and I wrote it down as I made it yesterday:

    

****Heirloom Tomato Salsa*****

7 medium to large heirloom tomatoes

1 bright red tomato (for color and tang)

1 medium bulb of Garlic, 8-10 cloves

3 tsp Salt

2 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Sugar

1-2 juicy Limes

1 small Onion or 1 large Shallot

1 bunch Scallion

1 bunch Cilantro

1 Jalapeno (add to taste, spicy!)

      

(1) Dice all the Tomatoes into your preferred chunk size. Put into a large mixing bowl.

(2) Smash, peel and mince the Garlic fine.

(3) Peel, slice and chop the Shallot fine.

(4) Chop the Scallion. 

(5) Chop the Cilantro, leaves and some stems.

(6) Chop the Jalapeno, removing the stem and seeds. 

(7) Add all the ingredients including Salt, Pepper, Sugar and Lime juice. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro or lime wedges. Chill for later or serve immediately!  

Dice all the tomatoes and put them in a large bowl big enough to add all the other ingredients. I know, it's a shame - they're way too pretty, so uniquely stunning in their grooviness.

Mince all the garlic. I love my Global small Asian chef knife.

Chop the bunch of scallion, not too fine.

Add the scallion to the bowl of diced tomatoes. Gorgeous green!

Add the Garlic, Sugar, Salt and Pepper.

Chop up the rest of the ingredients and add to the Salsa: Shallot, Cilantro and Jalapeno. Squeeze the Lime. Add more Salt, Pepper and Jalapeno to taste. Stir it up. Chill or serve immediately.

Mix and toss thoroughly! Look how fantastic it looks. The picture below is missing the bright red tomato, too many earthy tones.

Here are some red chunks - it just lit up the salsa.

Serve the salsa with your favorite chips. Perfect side dish for a game of chess. It was superb with some seared Snapper (blackened with salt, pepper, granulated garlic). Wish I had tortillas to turn it into fish tacos. Next time.