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Roasted Salsa

Submitted by adriana on Mon, 07/06/2010 - 00:57
The finished result

I've become addicted to this salsa and now find myself making it on a regular basis.  The idea for this recipe comes from a favourite cookbook at the moment by Thomasina Miers called  Mexican Food Made Simple.  It is full of great recipes most of which are gluten free.  Those that aren't are easily adapted.

I love the freshness and vibrancy of this sauce, which you can use to liven up anything from the Sunday roast, to a jacket potato or some scrambled eggs.  Serve this salsa with a bowl of tortilla chips or in it's truest form, as a hot sauce for tacos. Roasted salsa pic jpeg gf.jpgOlder children, especially teenagers, may appreciate the strong flavours and the blow off your head hotness.  For younger children, you can leave the chilli out or just add a fraction of what is stated in the recipe.  Roasting the chile and some of the other key ingredients adds a lovely smokey flavour and is what makes the sauce really special.  You will need to play around with the seasoning for the sauce to achieve the right balance of flavours.  The sauce should be sharp, slightly sweet and hot.  A splash of rice vinegar usually helps to bring out the flavour.

Yield

serves 4-6

Preparation time

20 minutes

Ingredients

1 chilli (red or green)
3-4 medium tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
3 tbs finely chopped onion
1 lime
rice vinegar
fresh coriander, finely chopped
sea salt
pinch of sugar

Directions

Preheat oven 200 C.  Heat a large cast iron or heavy bottomed griddle over high heat until almost smoking.  Place the chilli, tomatoes and garlic on the griddle and leave to blacken in the pan.  Use tongs to move the ingredients around, but don't be tempted to fiddle with them too much.  You want them to char a bit.  As they blacken, place them on a baking tray and then in a hot oven for 5 minutes until the skins of the tomatoes are charred and will come off easily.

Remove the baking tray from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes.  Deseed the chilli and remove the skin which should peel away easily.  Mince into a fine paste and place in a medium sized bowl.  Remove the blistered skins from the garlic and mash into a paste and add to the chilli.  Finally remove the skins from the tomatoes and roughly chop them.  Add them along with any juices left over in the baking tray to the bowl with the chilli and garlic.  Add the finely chopped onion and  mix through with a fork.  Add the juice of 1/2 a lime, a splash of vinegar, a pinch of sugar and some salt.  Taste and add more seasoning or lime juice as required.  If the sauce is too hot you can add a little more sugar to bring the heat down.  Just before serving,  add a good measure of freshly chopped coriander .  The sauce will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. 

Notes