Roasted Tomato Salsa

Roasted Tomato Salsa. Any good Mexican knows the mouth-watering smell of chilis roasting. It’s one of those smells that in a SNAP takes me back to my childhood and into my grandmother’s warm and loving kitchen. As a kid, we made salsa almost everyday from scratch. None of that jarred stuff. (No place for Pace). This is one of those recipes I can make in my sleep. (“Sleep cooking” is a lot like sleep walking, but breakfast is already made when you wake up). I sometimes get the “Mexican food is hard” comment from my peeps. Then I think of recipes like this one, and I know I can have those nay-sayers becoming yay-sayers in no time flat.

Open up the windows, and heat up the griddle! It can get smokey when you’re make this Roasted Tomato Salsa so save the batteries in your smoke detector – the voice of experience.. If you’re doing this old school (aka “on the griddle”), you will need to watch your food and turn and turn again. (Note: Turn the food, not yourself. That’s just silly and also makes you dizzy). It’s not rocket science though. Unlike anything you’ve ever heard before about cooking, all you need to do is burn your food. Burn, baby. Burn! 🙂

If you’re not into charring your tomatoes on the stove, making this Roasted Tomato Salsa in the oven is even easier. I’m just a traditionalist, but when I’m running around, I use my trusted friend, Señor Caliente, aka the oven. Mix tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño with olive oil, and put them in a 450 degrees oven for 20 minutes. Then jump to the blending part of the recipe.

I’m only using 1 jalapeño here. If you do this on the griddle, you’re going to hear it popping. The flesh of the chili pepper does that. Once everything is ready, blend it with the rest of the ingredients. I use the pulse feature on the food processor to get the consistency I like. If you want it smoother, keep blending away to your heart’s content. Me, I prefer my Roasted Tomato Salsa chunky style. I blend everything first except for the jalapeño, then add the pepper and pulse only once. DELICIOUS!

Tell me that wasn’t easy? You’ll be making fresh salsa everyday too! Sorry Mexican salsa companies. 🙂

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Roasted Tomato Salsa is easy Mexican food at its best. Try this recipe, and you'll never again think that making spicy and delicious Mexican food is hard.

4 from 1 vote

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 1 cup

Author: Maggie Unzueta

Ingredients

• 5 tomatoes
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• ½ onion
• 1 garlic
• Juice of 1 lime
• Handful of cilantro
• Pinch ground cumin
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Olive oil if using

Instructions

• On the griddle, add tomatoes, jalapeño, onion.
• Char on all sides.
• Or, in the oven, brush tomatoes, jalapeño, and onion with olive oil.
• Place in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.
• In a blender, add the tomatoes, jalapeño, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper.
• Pulse until you get the consistency you like.
• Serve!

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