Tucson Style Salsa

The salsa in Tucson has more garlic in it than salsa I've had elsewhere. I attribute this, perhaps erroneously, to the influence of Monica Flin, the original proprietor of El Charro Cafe, and the daughter of two French parents. Opened in 1922, El Charro Cafe is still in the same family and is the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the country.

But my favorite salsa in Tucson is made by Rosa Ortega of Rosa's Mexican Restaurant, which has been in business since 1970. Rosa is 75 now and the restaurant is run by her children, but she's still often on the premises. I've heard that not even her daughters know the recipe for her award-winning salsa. If that's really the case, I hope she's stashed the recipe in her safe deposit box.

I've bought vats of Rosa's salsa in an attempt to reverse engineer it. ("Good luck!" snorted one of the daughters when I admitted what I was up to.) This isn't exactly the same as Rosa's (it's less salty for one thing), but it's close, and it's damn good salsa if I do say so myself.


28 oz can of tomatoes
1/2 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 small bunch cilantro
1 to 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano*
1 cup of water
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt
several generous grindings black pepper
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
Scant 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle puree, or to taste

Chop one cup of the tomatoes fine and reserve in a large nonstick frying pan.

Combine the garlic, onion and 1/2 cup of water in the blender and puree.

Remove most of the stems from the cilantro and chop coarsely. Add the herbs and tomatoes (except reserved tomatoes) to the mixture in the blender and puree. Transfer the mixture to the frying pan with the reservec chopped tomatoes. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, oil and red wine vinegar. Mix well to combine.

Add the chiplote puree. Start with half a teaspoon and take it from there. The salsa should be *very* hot, but not painfully so and not so hot that you won't be able to taste whatever dishes are to follow. And the mixture should be a rich reddish brown. (If you decide you've undershot the mark on the heat, you can always add a little more chipotle puree at the very end.)

Add the cup of water to the now empty blender to get whatever is left clinging to the sides and add that water to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook until the mixture has lost its raw taste, about ten minutes. Bring to room temperature. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. This will keep in the refrigerator for a week or more. The recipe makes a little over a quart.

*Use 2 teaspoons if oregano is from chain store, 1 teaspoon if it is very fresh from bulk importer, such as Pacific Foods International.