Salsa de Plaza

Several years ago I got a great cookbook from Mr. H for Christmas. It is called "The Art of Mexican Cooking" by Diana Kennedy. This lady traveled throughout Mexico, talking to people, eating in their homes and watching them cook. You can tell I love this book because lots of the pages have stains and water spots on them. My favorite salsa recipe comes from it. It calls for blanching the tomatoes, but it's just as good if you don't. It also calls for a chile serano instead of a jalapeño, but you can experiment with your favorite chiles or peppers.

Salsa de Plaza

1 lb. tomatoes
1 small white onion, sliced
1 jalapeño
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon strong vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid from jar of jalepenos

Roast the jalapeño over the flame or on the electric or ceramic burner of your stove until blistered. Put it in a cup or jar and cover it to let it sweat. Put the tomatoes into a pan, cover with water, bring to a fast simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. When the jalapeño is cool enough to handle, scrape the skin off with the back of a knife. Cut the top off, slice in half and remove the seeds. Slice into ribbons unless you like big chunks of pepper. Drain tomatoes, transfer, unpeeled, to a blender jar, and add the onion, jalapeño, sugar, salt, vinegar. Blend to your favorite consistency.