Green Tomato and Pickle Salsa

My sister made crab cakes last night - with crab meat picked by her own hands - and I saved it for lunch today. As an accompaniment, I was thinking how to use the vegetables and herbs from my garden, and realize that many things in my fridge are things I love to eat fried: green tomatoes (from the garden), pickle chips (not from the garden), and zucchini (from the farmers' market). I saved the zucchini for later, and used the green tomato and pickle chips for the basis of a salsa. Green tomatoes are common in salsas. Pickles are common in relishes, which are kind of like a salsa if you think about it hard enough. But I've not seen green tomatoes and pickles in a salsa together. Well, that's over.

Green Tomato and Pickle Salsa

2 firm medium green tomatoes, diced
4 to 5 sweet pickle chips, diced, or 1 small sweet pickle spear, diced
1 - 2 tablespoons juice from the pickle jar
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
3 small green chili peppers, diced (with or without seeds as to your liking)
1 large clove garlic, diced
1/2 to 1 small red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
several sprigs mint, basil or cilantro, chopped

Fry the garlic, red onion and chili pepper in the olive oil with a little sprinkle of salt over medium heat until soft and slightly brown, to release the flavors. Meanwhile, mix the green tomato, pickles and herb together in the pickle juice and lemon or lime juice. Add the fried items and mix well. Refrigerate.

Note: This salsa is based on stuff I had lying around and was rather cheap for me to make. One thing here or there can be omitted if you don't have it around. You could also experiment to see what might be a good addition. But the green tomatoes and pickle chips are mandatory.

I was surprised at how well it turned out. Usually, when I get a last-minute idea for a recipe it does not always turn out too well. The pickles were a nice, surprising addition and the mint seemed to tie the whole salsa together.