Roasted Tomato-Green Chile Salsa (Salsa de Molcajete)

By LaLaCooks

Ingredients

• 1 pound tomatoes (2 medium-large round or 6 to 8 plum tomatoes)
• Fresh hot green chiles to taste (2 medium jalapenos or 4 serranos)
• 3 garlic cloves, not peeled
• 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1/3 cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro
• salt
• Vinegar or lime juice to taste

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

1. Roasting: Roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet covered in tin foil 4 inches below a very hot broiler until they're darkly roasted (they'll be blackened in spots), about 6 minutes. (They'll be blackened in spots.) Flip them over and roast the other side about 5 to 6 minutes more will give you splotchy-black and blistered tomatoes that are soft and cooked through. Cool the tomatoes. Working over the baking sheet, pull off and discard the blackened skins. For round tomatoes, cut out the hard cores where the stems were attached.
Roast the chiles and garlic in a dry skillet or on a griddle over medium heat, turning them occasionally, until they are soft and darkened in places, about 5 minutes for the chiles, 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool, then slip the papery skins off the garlic.
2. Finishing the salsa: Either crush the roasted garlic and chiles to a smooth paste in a mortar or chop them to near-paste in a food processor. If using a mortar, crush in the tomatoes, one at a time, working them into a coarse puree. For a food processor, add the tomatoes and pulse to achieve a coarse puree.
Scoop the chopped onion into a strainer and rinse under cold water. Shake to remove excess moisture.
Transfer the salsa to a bowl, stir in the onion and cilantro and season with salt, usually a generous 1/2 teaspoon. Thin with a little water, usually about 2 tablespoons, to give it a spoonable consistency or perk it up with vinegar or lime and then add water as needed.

Working ahead: Once the onion and cilantro have been added to the salsa, it should be eaten within a few hours. Without the onion and cilantro, the refrigerated salsa base keeps for several days, though the flavors will dull.