The seven-ingredient salsa

This is my mom's "secret" recipe. I'm not doing anyone any favors though - I feel for my own sake I have to document this. You wouldn't believe how many times I can only recall six ingredients and then forget the seventh - and the one I forget seems to be different every time.

You have to be a tinkerer to enjoy this recipe - note I have not put any amounts in. I will say that if you're going canned for the tomatoes (and that's what I usually do, unless tomatoes are at peak), you will want to have a 28 ounce can of peeled plum without italian spices. When you chop those up in the blender, the rest is all taste and feel.

Seven-ingredient Salsa

Peeled plum tomatoes
Garlic
Onion
Cumin
Pickled Jalapenos
Fresh cilantro
Fresh oregano

Salt to taste

Put ingredients one at a time in a blender. You will want to use the setting for the style of "chunkiness" you want in your salsa - I usually do "chop" for a salsa that still has texture but is more like a taco sauce. You will want to taste after each addition to your liking - the ingredients should be added in the order above. Be careful with the oregano - if you add too much, you'll have marinara and won't be able to recover from it w/o adding an entire new tomato can.

I have a dear chef friend Adam who once for a party added white rum to the above recipe. It's also great to leave this completely chunky and not use a blender but rather old-fashioned fine hand-chopping. The rum version had a great kick (sort of like the effect tequila has on fajitas), but when I told my Mother of our great addition I was met with dead silence on the other end of the phone, so use your judgement.

This will keep jarred in the fridge for up to two weeks and makes a great low-calorie topping to chicken, burritos, chips, fingers, etc...