Salsa Recipe v. 2.0

After more experiments and trial and error, I've revamped my salsa recipe slightly. Here it is in all of it's glory.

Stewed tomatoes (I prefer Great Value Sliced Stewed Tomatoes)
Onion
Garlic cloves (could probably do powder but cloves give a better flavor and better texture)
Cilantro
Celery
Green Bell Pepper
Jalepenos - whole pickled or fresh (whole pickled jalepenos have a better flavor than regular sliced pickled jalapenos)
Lime
Lemon
Cumin
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Vinegar
Guajillo chiles (may also be called cascabel chiles)
Ancho chiles

Optional: hot chile peppers such as pequin chiles, japones chiles, etc. I prefer pequin chiles.

You can find guajillo and ancho chiles at Walmart in the hispanic aisle. They should be dehydrated.

The ratios I think I go with are as follows - for two cans of stewed tomatoes, you should probably use one medium-sized onion, one bell pepper, one celery stalk, one large garlic clove, one jalepeno (whole, fresh or pickled), two guajillo chiles, one ancho chile. You should add your hot chiles to taste. I honestly have no clue how much cilantro or spices I use. 1/3 juice of a lemon and 1/3 juice of a lime should be used for about two cans.

1. Strain the stewed tomatoes the best you can - the less liquid you have in them, the less runny your salsa will be.
2. Mince up your onion, garlic, cilantro, celery, bell pepper, and jalapenos.
3. Chop up your chiles as fine as you can or chop them up into chunks and run them through a small blender until you get them to a fine powder-like consistency.
4. Throw your tomatoes and your chopped ingredients into the blender and blend it up until it gets to a consistency you like. Just be sure you don't accidentally make a salsa smoothie.
5. Dump the contents of the blender into a pan. Put the pan on an oven burner UNCOVERED and set it between low and medium. The goal of heating the salsa is to release the flavors of the vegetables and allow them to mingle with the spices, and to allow excess liquid to cook out of the salsa.
6. Sprinkle your cumin, chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt over the salsa in the pan. Starting out I would just lightly sprinkle the whole surface of the salsa with your spices. As the salsa cooks and the flavors combine, add more spices to taste (if necessary).
7. Add a small splash of vinegar.
8. Add lime juice and lemon juice.
9. Stir the salsa periodically. Ultimately what you want is the salsa to VERY slightly simmer. If it gets too hot it will start shooting everywhere.
10. Taste-test the salsa as it cooks to make sure it's turning out as you want. If it needs anything, now is your time to add it.
11. Allow the salsa to simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring it periodically. I will usually let mine go 45 minutes to an hour, but that's when I make a big batch.
12. Dump the salsa from the pan into a container and put it in the refridgerator. It's pretty much done at this point. You can enjoy it warm or let cool off in the refridgerator.

WARNING!!! It is incredibly easy to over-do the garlic, lime juice, and/or lemon juice. If you're unsure about how much to use, use less rather than more. I would also go lighter on the salt than you would the rest of the spices. Salt can easily cover the flavors of the vegetables and the spices.

Once you're done with all of this, if you're feeling adventurous you could throw in some corn and/or black beans with the salsa, that might be good.