Lammas has passed and Fall Equinox is right around the corner. We pagan folk are deep into the season of the harvest Sabbats. I am embracing the hot sweaty days and the refreshing foods that go with it. The pepper plants in my garden are producing various varieties of spiciness, from the jalepenos to the padron peppers which have some serious kick.
The tomato plants have been producing the sweet red juiciness of cherry, roma and heirloom tomatoes. These are summer plants that thrive on long days and the heat that comes with it, which they need to ripen. Tomatoes and peppers are the basis for a fresh delicious way to celebrate summer, by making salsa from scratch. It’s one of many ways of using the sometimes overwhelming bounty of the garden. Here’s a fun song about using home-grown tomatoes. It may not be a pagan song per se, but it sure captures the spirit of the pagani, the country folk. The lyrics are here.
Summer’s End Salsa
You don’t have to have a garden or even fresh tomatoes to make a delicious fresh salsa. As long as you can get fresh jalapenos or another pepper that you enjoy, limes, a red or white onion, cilantro (if you like it) and can crushed tomatoes, you can make a fresh salsa that is the embodiment of summer.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds tomatoes (about 5 medium), finely diced or 2-15 oz cans of diced tomatoes
- 1 bunch of chopped cilantro (~2/3 cup)
- 1/2 red or white onion, finely chopped (~1/2 cup)
- 2 fresh jalapeño or serrano peppers, finely chopped, including seeds, or more to taste
- 1 lime freshly squeezed (2 tablespoon lime juice), or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon of cumin, freshly ground if possible
- 1 teaspoon fine salt, or 2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
I recommend preparing salsa with a Cuisinart. Add the handful of cilantro with stems, quartered onion, and destemmed peppers (leave the seeds if you want some kick) to cuisinart and pulse until everything is chopped finely.
I like to grind my own cumin. The flavor is more intense when it has just been released from the seeds. But, ground cumin from your spice rack is fine, too.
Add tomatoes, lime juice and salt and blend until mixed well. Add more peppers if it’s not spicy enough for you. But, keep in mind that as the flavors blend it might also release more heat.
If you don’t have access to a food processor, just chop everything finely and mix together. This will produce a slightly chunkier salsa than if using a Cuisinart.
Put in a quart jar and refrigerate. Flavors will blend after a few hours and get more flavorful with time.
A time for gratitude
This salsa is perfect to bring to a late summer gathering, or a ritual for Lughnassadh or Mabon. Before you begin savoring the flavors of the feast, you can show your gratitude for this time of bounty by singing A Pagan Grace, which is on our latest album Seasons.
Dear Goddess, we ask you to bless this our food (we say)
music & lyrics © Alane Susan Brown (ASCAP) 2018
to the elements making it our gratitude (always.)
May the gift of this sustenance give us the fuel (today)
to allow us to share our own gifts with the world (we pray.)
Even if we can’t gather as we usually do on this sacred day, we can still connect to nature and the passion of summer through our gardens, fresh food and magic.
Have a blessed Mabon!
For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Melanie and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.
Please subscribe to the Pagan Song blog, to receive our blog post each week. Don’t miss any of the musical magic!
Visit our homepage to see the full list of the musicians who write for the Pagan Song blog.
Pagan Song has a fan club on Patreon. Join for as little as $3 a month for exclusive features! Click for info.