International Incident Colour Party - Tomato Salsa Verde - Aiiiiii!!!

This is the last International Incident Party of the year!! Considering I am fairly new to this food party, I've had a hell of a fun time putting up my posts for the Lavender Party and the Salt Party!

Thank you again Penny for being such a great host in 2010! Here's to another fun filled year ahead of us! (it is nearly Christmas and I'm easily excited so please bear with my over excessive use of exclamation marks!!!!!)

The theme for December is Colour! And I had been really eager to bake a number for this... I was tossing between macarons, cake pops (which I tried and failed), and even a yule tide log!... BUT... seeing as my last two IIP posts were related to desserts and seeing also that the Australian Christamas Parties usually revolve around the BBQ... I thought to myself, "Heck... let's do a traditional salsa verde!"

It's healthy, it's easy, and it's bloody tasty *ahem* You can also eat it anytime, anywhere, with anything (I do... I LOVE IT!)

So here's my Colour Party post! Enjoy :)

Tomato Salsa Verde
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
1 red chilli (finely diced)
3-4 red tomatoes (deseeded and finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely diced)
1 red onion (finely chopped)
Half a juice of freshly squeezed lemon
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
A pinch of brown sugar (optional)

Here's where you get creative (and this Salsa is such a versatile dish, you can add any fresh ingredient to it, and it'll rock in another dimension!)

Extra Ingredients
Half a cucumber (finely chopped and deseeded)
2 celery sticks (finely chopped)
Mint Leaves/ Basil Leaves (roughly chopped)

Method
The key to this dish is the preparation (which takes the longest for me as I'm not a very fast chopper/dicer/kitchen hand)...

Once you have all the ingredients chopped and diced, simply throw them into a serving bowl, mix in the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.. and before you can shout out "Aiii Caramba", this dish is complete.... faster than you can shake your hips in a Zumba class :P

It is really that easy... I usually let it sit in the mixture for about an hour before serving (so that all the ingredients are infused with the lemon juice and olive oil...

After that, it is all up to you on how you serve it...

I have it with breakfast!

For lunch!!

And for dinner!!!

Heck, I'd even eat it on it's own (which I've done) or on toated bread! Delicious! And very healthy!!!

So tell me, have you made Salsa Verde before and what do you usually eat it with?