Super-Simple Black Bean Salsa

Cameron and I have lived here in London for nearly a year now, and as much as I love it, I would be lying if I said there weren’t a few things I miss about living in the US. Luckily, the topic of this week’s post is something  I can actually fix, unlike the large distance between friends and family.

The heat waves we’ve had the past few weeks had me craving Mexican food– tacos, salsa, guac, you name it. The problem? I’ve been pretty disappointed with the salsas, guacamoles, and flour tortillas I’ve been able to find. Luckily I came across a spice shop near our flat that sells corn tortillas from the Cool Chile Co, which was started by the owner of one of my favourite restaurants in the area, Taqueria. With tortillas in hand I got to thinking about salsa.

I hadn’t made salsa in ages, but remember the principle being pretty straightforward (tomatoes, onion, cilantro, etc.), so after a quick google search for inspiration, got to chopping. I grabbed the best vine tomatoes I could find at the farmers’ market, some red onion, cilantro (coriander), and lime. Once I was home with my produce I remembered some frozen corn in the freezer, and black beans I’d made the day before, and decided to add those as well. I spread the corn out on a baking sheet and tossed it under the broiler for a few minutes to brown.

The result was even better than I’d hoped. Not to toot my own horn, but this might be the best thing I’ve ever made. No joke. We had friends over last weekend and I decided to whip up another  big batch assuming we would have leftovers. No such luck– it was a hit!

The recipe below will make enough for 4-5 cups, but is easy to scale as needed.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 vine tomatoes, seeded and chopped

• 1- 1 1/2 small red onion, chopped finely

• one bunch cilantro/coriander washed and chopped

• 2c corn (fresh or frozen), roasted and cooled

• 2c black beans, drained (you could use canned to make this even quicker)

• optional, but delicious: 2 jalapeños, seeded and diced

• salt and lime juice to taste

Directions:

1. toss everything together (except salt and lime juice) in a large bowl.
2. add salt and lime to taste
3. let sit for at least an hour to let the flavours come together
4. Serve with your favourite tortilla chips or use to top tacos/any other food

This should keep for two -three days in the fridge, but I can’t verify this as it hasn’t made it that far in our house.

Happy snacking!