Fire roasted tomato salsa

Lots of people are asking me for some easy and simple recipes. The truth is, all my simple recipes slowly get more complicated the more I make them. I love too many flavors to ever settle on just one for a recipe, so I always experiment with recipes to make more sophisticated flavors. On the other hand, it’s hard not to appreciate the simple stuff, too. I wanted to be able to offer a simple recipe to people that want to try one of my dishes at home.

Plus, sometimes you can’t get too complicated and you just got to let the ingredients speak for themselves. My insanely delicious tomato salsa would satisfy everyone who wants to make salsa at home but was scared that it would be too complicated.

This is not an ordinary salsa though. This recipe involves roasting the tomatoes, along with the onions, garlic and jalapenos. The roasting brings out the flavors in the ingredients and gives this salsa a new dimension. Of course, fresh tomatoes salsa is great and refreshing, but roasting them gives them that fiery taste that most people love.

Feel free to experiment and add whatever you feel like to this recipe. You could replace the tomatoes with tomatillos, add green onion, add lime juice, add corn, fresh mint and even eggplants – the options are endless. Or, you could simply follow my recipe…

So here we go.

10 extra ripe fresh tomatoes (about 3 lbs), cut out the stem end and then cut into halves
1 large onion, cut into large cubes
2 green jalapenos cut into halves – you could use more or less, depending on how hot you want your salsa to be
10 (yes, 10) garlic cloves
1/4 cup oil
10 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin (use more if you like)
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Preheat the oven to 500º F.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Arrange tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic and bay leaves on sheet pan, drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven until tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and garlic begin to brown (brown, not burn!), checking on them every few minutes and rotating/mixing as needed.

This should take about 30 minutes depending on your oven.

Remove from oven and let cool completely. Once cooled, discard bay leaves and transfer to a food processor or a blender and add cumin. Pulse a few times until salsa reaches the right consistency. I like the salsa more chunky so I don’t pulse it too much. If you like your salsa more runny, almost like a dip, then you can puree it more until it’s smooth.

Transfer to a bowl, add the cilantro and mix well. Check the seasoning and add more cumin, salt and black pepper if needed. Serve with your favorite chips.

This salsa is better served at room temperature. It keeps chilled for about 4 days, bring to room temperature before serving. My favorite thing about this recipe is that it is easy to experiment with. When you make it, be creative and make the recipe your own.

Peace and love and chunky salsa.

Dadi

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