Okay, now I'm back to one of my real favorites. This is a salsa that we've been making for years and finally it seems to be a very, very hip new thing. All the celebrity chefs seem to have finally caught on. This is an all purpose sort of salsa. You can mash it up with a fork and spread it on a baguette as a base for some great sandwiches (Especially good with avocado, tomato, mayo and breast of chicken). You can add a spoonful to your tacos or you can make great quesadillas with just this salsa and a slice of your favorite cheese. It is an inexpensive and filling dip for chips and it makes a beautiful garnish for almost any main dish. You can even serve it as a salad. I know I keep promising to do a whole newsletter on beans - as a matter of fact I'm going to make the next newsletter all about beans - and various bean salsas, salads and dips. Until then you're just gonna have to be satisfied with this quick and tasty Black Bean Salsa that uses canned black beans (trust me, no one will know).

1 can of black beans
Make sure you get whole beans not refried
1 small onion
Any kind of onion will do but a red onion might be prettier
1 clove of garlic
Or more, it's hard to use too much garlic as far as I'm concerned
cilantro
If you like cilantro use lots, if you hate it, use chopped green onions
1 small ripe red tomato
chiles
This is a matter of taste. You can use jalapenos or serranos or you can even use those canned green chiles
salad oil
Nothing fancy - use any neutral tasting oil, nothing strong tasting lime juice Or lemon juice. As a matter of fact I like to make it with vinegar as well.

LET'S DO IT!

Drain the beans and rinse them (The juice or gravy in canned beans has a muddy color and is sometimes real salty). Slice the onion into really, really thin rounds and separate them into rings. Add them to the beans. Chop the garlic and tomato and throw them in too. I like to slice the chiles into very, very thin, thin rounds but you can chop them if you want, and add them to the mix. Pour some oil over it all and stir until every thing is pretty well coated with oil and then add the lime juice (or lemon juice or the vinegar) and stir around some more. You don't have to worry about too much oil because the extra will just go to the bottom of the bowl and you don't have to worry about too much vinegar because once everything is coated with oil the extra vinegar will also go to the bottom of the bowl. Let it all marinate for at least a couple of hours. If you're going to use it as a salad - serve it cold. If you are going to use it as a salsa serve it room temperature. I guess you all think that I forgot about the cilantro or green onions............. wrong. We add the chopped cilantro or green onions right before we serve it because it looks crummy if it's been sitting in all that liquid for any length of time. Let me know how it turns out and if you won a t-shirt, get me your mailing address.