Emma's Tomato Salsa

The basic ingredients for a tomato salsa recipe are pretty simple:
Tomato
red onion
olive oil
salt and pepper
lime juice

I wanted to make a tomato salsa last night to have with our burgers and as an alternative to tomato sauce.  So I took the basic salsa recipe and turned it into this:

 

Emma's Tomato Salsa

 

Ingredients

3 tomatoes roughly chopped
1/4 red onion finely diced
1/4 red capsicum finely diced
1/4 zucchini finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon each of fresh basil, fresh mint and fresh oregano, very finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup light olive oil
pinch of salt
grind of fresh black pepper
a few drops of tobacco sauce

Mix altogether in a bowl and serve. Delicious.
The flavours develop and improve by the next day too. (If you have any left over)

Notes

I didn't really measure anything because I'm not that sort of cook.  I tend to throw a bit of this and a dash of that in and go by taste.  So my measurements listed above are a guesstimate of how much I thought I used.  The best idea is to go by taste, that way you can make it to your own preference.

I used zucchini because I have a surplus in my garden, so am finding excuses to slip them into everything at the moment.  They add bulk to the recipe without noticeably effecting the flavour.

I added the garlic as an afterthought.  My daughter came home from school sick with a cold, so I decided to throw in garlic for its antibacterial properties, to help her fight her bug.  It does add to the flavour, which is good for me because I love garlic. it could be easily omitted if preferred, however.

The fresh herbs happened to be the ones growing prolifically in my garden at the moment.  It could also be made using other fresh herbs such as rosemary, chives and coriander.  I am not usually a big fan of mint, but I was pleasantly surprised how well the hint of mint went with this recipe.  You could also use dried herbs and spices in this recipe. Suggestions are mixed herbs, coriander, cumin, or paprika.

I literally put a dash of balsamic vinegar in, I'm am guessing it was somewhere in the order of one to two tablespoons.  It's an area where you can adjust to taste. Similarly the olive oil was more a slug than a measured amount. So again the quantity is a guess.  How much you put in would depend on how wet you would like your salsa to be.  The light oil doesn't impart an overly dominant flavour like a virgin olive oil would.

I used Himalayan rock salt simply because it is what I had in the cupboard.

The tabasco sauce was to give the salsa a bit of a kick.  Obviously, how many dashes you put in is up to how spicy you like your food to be.

Finally, this salsa was absolutely delicious.  For my next salsa I'd like to try a fermented version.  It would have to be pretty good though to beat the amazing fresh flavours in this one.