Restaurant-Style Salsa

Week 373. Spring 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like fresh herbs and possibility and this is my life. This is the life I built.

Tom made his trout on Friday, the way he does every Friday, and the fish was perfect, and the kitchen smelled like lemon and capers, and I sat at the table and ate fish that my partner caught and cooked and served, and the being-served is still a wonder after all these years.

Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made garden salad with vinaigrette this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

That week — Week 373, the garden salad week, the herbs-and-possibility week — I also made a batch of this salsa, because that’s what I do when I want to feel like myself in the kitchen: I reach for something fresh and uncomplicated and alive. There is something about the smell of cilantro and lime and tomato coming together in a blender that feels like proof of ordinary goodness, the kind that doesn’t ask anything of you except to show up and chop. It’s the recipe I make when the week has been steady and I want the food to match — nothing heroic, just bright and real and enough.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Ro-Tel)
1/4 cup white onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 jalapeño, seeds removed for mild or kept for heat, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional, to balance acidity)

Instructions

Combine. Add the drained whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes with green chiles, onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, and salt to a food processor or blender.
Pulse. Pulse in short bursts, 10 to 15 times, until the salsa reaches your preferred consistency — slightly chunky for texture, or longer for a smoother restaurant-style finish. Do not over-process into a pureée.
Taste and adjust. Taste and add more salt, lime juice, or a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are very acidic. Add more jalapeño if you want more heat.
Rest. Transfer to a bowl or jar and let the salsa sit for at least 15 minutes before serving so the flavors can come together.
Serve. Serve with tortilla chips, or alongside tacos, eggs, grilled fish, or anything else that needs a little brightness.

Nutrition (per serving)

Restaurant-Style Salsa — The Food That Keeps Connecting Us