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salsa to make my grandma proud!
we’ve been making lots of salsas lately and i thought i would share this one for roasted salsa here.
(note: keep in mind that the quantities are approximate and really depend on the amount you want to make; this is just what we have been making. it makes a few cup’s worth)
- 1 – 1.5 lbs of roma tomatoes (not the vine ripened stuff*)
- 3 jalapeño peppers (red or green, doesn’t matter)
- 2 habanero peppers (or scotch bonnets, etc)
- 5 unpeeled cloves of garlick
- 1 medium onion
- 1 lime or lemon
- fresh cilantro
get your largest, heaviest pan for this one; if you’ve got cast-iron, please use it. now, since this is roasting veggies, you may want to cover the bottom of the pan with a bit of foil, so that way the foil gets all of the tomato skins stuck to it and not the pan.
in the pan, put the tomatos, peppers and garlick (as many as will fit at one time) and set the stove on high. after a few minutes, the veggies will start to brown, when that happens, just turn the veggies to the next side.
continue to do this until all of the veggies are pretty roasted and soft, while enjoying the smell of the roasted garlick and peppers. once they’re all done, turn off the stove and remove the pan from the burner. let the veggies cool down for a bit.
once the veggies have cooled down, very carefully take the peppers and remove the stems. to reduce the hotness of the peppers, you may want to open up the pepper lengthwise and remove the seeds and the veins from the inside with a knife (while wearing gloves, so you don’t get the hot chemical on your hands). if you want to keep some of the hotness of the pepper, leave one or two intact; however, for the habaneros, i really, really, really recommend you remove the seeds. also, remove the peel from the garlick cloves as well.
put the peppers and the garlick in a food processor, and process until it’s a uniform consistency (this way, the pepper and garlick, as well as their flavors are in every bite).
you want to remove the seeds from the tomatoes, as well as any extra juice that may have accumulated while they were roasting. if you were to leave the juice and seeds in it, the salsa would become too watery after time. once they’ve been seeded, add them to the processor, along with some chopped cilantro (the quantity depends on your taste) and give them a few pulses, depending on how chunky you want them to be in the final product.
cut up some of the onion and add it to the processor, along with the salt to taste (we add one to two teaspoons of salt), and the juice of half of the lemon (or lime). then do a quick pulse or two. i like my salsa to be a bit on the oniony side, so i would add the entire onion.
once the onion is added, remove from the food processor and adjust any of the seasoning and stir the salsa with a spoon.
we usually put it in an airtight container and put it in the fridge for a few hours, that way the flavors get a chance to meld. but then, if you need to give into the salsa, just feel free to dive right in with some chips.
let me know if any of you try this out, and if you make any modifications to it!
¡buen provecho!
* while vine ripened tomatoes are extremely delicious in most other uses, they will not work for this recipe. we bought some of these tomatoes because they were cheaper than the other stuff, but they were too ripe to survive the roasting process and made a big mess before they were put in the food processor.
