Instructions: Cafe Pasquals is a well known restaurant in Santa Fe, NM and one of my favorites. I think I would use a little more chiles.

In American culinary history, 1992 will be remembered as the year salsa outsold catsup to become the nations number one condiment. Thats terrific news to me because its a healthy step away from the role of sugar as a palate pleaser into the fascinating world of chile flavors.

Every morning at Cafe Pasquals we prepare by hand four gallons of this essential salsa. We serve it as an accompaniment to our breakfast and lunch quesadillas. It is full of fresh flavor, has crunch, and the "heat" can be easily be turned up or down. We use vine-ripened tomatoes at the height of summer when they are plentiful. Otherwise, Italian plum (Roma) tomatoes are available year-round and are superior to other commercial tomatoes.

Always make salsa by hand using a good sharp knife. A machine reduces the ingredients to a mushy liquid and, at that point, you might as well buy a jar of commercial salsa.

Chop the tomatoes by hand. To create a perfect 1/8-inch dice, slice off the stem end and stand the tomato on its now-flat surface. Slice straight down to make 1/8-inch-wide slabs. Turn the cut tomato as a unit and cut across the tomato in 1/8-inch increments, creating a dice. Cut the reserved slice into dice as well. Put the diced tomatoes into a nonreactive bowl.

Cut the onion in the same-size dice as the tomatoes and put in the bowl with the tomatoes.

Add the chile and cilantro. Add the salt and a very small amount of cumin, if you like. Stir well.

Makes about 2 cups.

Note: Because the piquant qualities of onions and chiles vary, you man need to adjust one or the other of these ingredients to taste. Serve the salsa at room temperature within a few hours of preparing it. It does not store well, the tomatoes and onion become soft and the flavors dissipate.

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