Salsa

If you have never had fresh-made salsa, you are in for a treat. The simplest way to make salsa is to shred some vegetables, but if you roast the vegetables first it will unlock a ton of flavor.

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Very coarsely The blender will take care of 99% of the chopping work. We just need things in a few pieces so they cook more quickly and evenly. chop:

• A couple red peppers
• A few tomatillos
• A white onion

The above list should fill roughly half a baking sheet. The rest will be filled with tomatoes. However, there is a trick—I find the salsa comes out best when the amount of water is minimized—and the tomatoes add way too much water when added whole.

Chop up enough 10 is about right but YMMV plum tomatoes to fill the rest of the sheet. Remove the cores and discard. I salt the cores and snack on them while cooking, so as not to let them go to waste. Then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Put what is left of the tomato on the baking sheet.

Salt everything on the baking sheet. Then pour vegetable oil on the baking sheet and mix until everything is more or less coated.

Add a few garlic cloves to the baking sheet. Leave them in their papery husks to protect them in the oven.

Turn on the oven broiler. Put the sheet with the vegetables on the top rung of the oven. Cook until some of the vegetables start to brown.

In the meanwhile, get out your blender and add the following:

• Cilantro bunch
• Serrano pepper You can substitute with the core from a jalapeño pepper. Also note: if you plan to chill the salsa for a day before eating, the heat level of the salsa will lower by a bit after sitting for a while. (optional)
• A big squeeze of lime juice

When the vegetables are finished cooking, pick out the garlic cloves and squeeze the garlic into the blender, discarding the papery husk. Put the vegetables in the blender. If it doesn’t all fit initially, add some, blend, then add more in batches. Pulse the blender until evenly chopped.

Pour the salsa into a bowl. Taste and salt as needed. You can eat it hot (filling and fresh) or let it sit in the fridge for a while (melded flavors and more conventional).

Ingredient list

• 2 Red peppers
• 4 Tomatillos
• 1 White onion
• 10 Plum tomatoes
• Salt
• Vegetable oil
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 Cilantro bunch
• 1 Serrano pepper (optional)
• 1 Lime

Inspiration

I got the recipe from Not Another Cooking Show but tweaked it to not be so watery.