Salsa for the ages, or at least for today

I once worked as a line cook at Casa Gallardo's, a former national restaurant chain that is now a regional one serving Mexican food. I loved their salsa, which they called Red Hot. Before I worked at the restaurant, I was a diner there. It was while eating at Casa Gallardo's in Daytona Beach, Fla., that I tasted for the first time fresh salsa.

I loved Casa Gallardo's Red Hot, and I discovered I liked fresh salsa. While I do not know the recipe for their version of salsa (because I worked on the line and not in food preparation), I know it included fresh diced tomatoes and onions and cilantro. The cilantro really made the salsa stand out for me. Up until I ate Casa Gallardo's Red Hot, I thought salsa came from a jar. I was not really fond of it.

I tried my hand at making fresh salsa. Rather than dicing the tomatoes, I usually put everything in a blender and pulsed it to break down the tomatoes, not quite diced, but not quite pureed either.

When I moved to Wooster, Ohio, I began eating at a local Mexican restaurant, El Campesino's. I enjoy their food, and their salsa. El Campesino's salsa differs from Casa Gallardo's. It is more of a crushed/pureed salsa, where Casa Gallardo's is diced and chunky.

So, each time I would visit El Campesino's, I would try to determine how they made their salsa. It dawned on me they might be using canned tomatoes instead of fresh, though I have no idea. So, one day I purchased some canned diced tomatoes (I usually pick up petite diced tomatoes) and used them instead of fresh tomatoes. The result was a pretty good salsa. That was a few years ago, and I have never looked back.

As for my salsa recipe, I don't really have a recipe for fresh salsa, or, in my instance, I should call it an uncooked salsa. I am more like a jazz cook, improvising and revisiting and tweaking earlier motifs. My mother, like typical Italians, throws a little bit of this, a dash of that and just kind of puts in whatever she thinks is appropriate. So, to my OCD readers, my apologies.

While I don't have a standard recipe, my salsa basically includes a 28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes, a half bunch of cilantro, about a tablespoon of minced garlic (I used the stuff in jars from the grocery store, I do not use fresh), a teaspoon or so of kosher salt, half teaspoon of cracked black pepper and about a tablespoon of lime juice (you can use fresh if you want, I don't). It goes in the blender and I blend until mostly smooth.

Where the variations come in: Sometimes I will throw in a chipotle or two in adobo sauce; half to full teaspoon of ground cumin, sometimes chicken bullion instead of salt, sometimes sliced jalapenos from a jar (if I have them) or some dehydrated jalapenos I have had since I first moved to Ohio, and sometimes crushed red pepper flakes.

In the salsa pictured above, I used a small jar of diced tomatoes and green chiles instead of my standard petite diced tomatoes.

What kind of salsa did you prepare? Do you have any Casa Gallardo recipes, especially their beef and pork mix for burritos and chimichangas? Would love for you to share.

-- Bobby