Recipe of the month—January

Delores Enriquez's Homemade Salsa

Homemade salsa with fresh tomatoes and a little zing (mmmmm!) tends to make one want to . . . dance the Salsa! (Store-bought salsa is just never as good as homemade.) But in the winter—and sometimes even in the summer—it's nearly impossible to get tomatoes that taste like home-grown. And they're the best.

But (shhhh) Delores has agreed to share her little trick: Start with a can of petite diced tomatoes and add the other ingredients fresh. See, canning companies don't have to pick tomatoes two weeks in advance to get them to market before they spoil. They can leave them on the vine until they're perfectly ripe and then process them within hours. So, even though they're canned, they often have a richer flavor than those pulpy winter tomatoes in the grocery store. So here goes . . .

1 large can (28 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
1 small serrano chile pepper, finely chopped
juice of 1 large or 2 small limes
1 cup chopped celantro
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Drain the tomatoes into a colander, reserving 1/2 cup of the juice. While you chop the other incredients, allow the tomatoes to drain several minutes, turning them over in the colander a couple times without crushing them. In a sauce pan, stir and disolve the cornstarch into the reserved tomato juice and heat it until it just begins to bubble, stirring regularly. Remove it from the heat and put it in the freezer. Once it is cool, combine this thickening in a bowl with all the other ingredients and stir only until mixed evenly.

Chill and serve with chips or on tacos, tostados, or quesadillas.

Note: One serrano chile will produce a medium-hot salsa. Use more or less to taste. Be sure to chop it very finely, but be careful! Because even after you wash your hands, it will still feel like fire if you rub your eyes or stick a finger in your mouth.