Smoky Roasted Salsa

By á-22546

For those of you that saw my last salsa recipe, this one is going to look very similar in make-up but it is a completely different salsa and well worth the extra effort that goes in to its making.

This recipe will make a blended salsa that is quite spicy with a smokey sweet undertone.

Ingredients

• 3 Large tomatoes
• 1 Medium sweet onion
• 4 Cloves garlic
• 6 chili peppers of various types and heat
• 1/2 Bunch cilantro
• 2 Chipotle Peppers*
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 1 tbsp honey
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Details

Adapted from thelamarrs.com

Preparation

Step 1

*You will find chipotle peppers canned in the Hispanic section of your supermarket. They will be in adobo sauce and are smoked jalepenos. They are spicy, smokey and hot.

Turn on the broiler in your oven

Slice the tomatoes into wedges then rinse out the seeds. Reserve the slices from one tomato. Slice the onion into wedges. Peel the garlic. Slice the peppers in half and throw out the seeds. Trust me, this will be plenty hot without including them.

Place all of these ingredients onto a sheet pan or cookie sheet and place under the broiler in your oven. Make sure to "hide" the garlic under a pepper or two to keep them from burning. I keep the sheet about six inches below the broiler. Set your timer for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, get out your blender and put the reserved tomato slices, chopped cilantro, two chipotle peppers with some of the adobo sauce and lime juice into the blender. Check the oven, the skin of the peppers should be turning black and there should be some darkening of the other vegetables. Turn any vegetables that are getting too dark over and place back under the broiler for up to five minutes more.

When all of your vegetables are a bit black around the edges, the skin on the peppers should be completely black, take them out and place all except the peppers into the blender. Place the peppers into a bowl and cover with saran wrap then let them set for about ten minutes. This will help them steam up a bit which aids in loosening the skin.

After about ten minutes take the peppers out of the bowl and peel off the blackened skin and discard it then place the peppers in the blender. Blend the ingredients for a two to three minutes then put in a few large pinches of salt and about 1/2 tsp of fresh cracked pepper.

Taste the salsa to check the seasoning. You might need a bit more salt or lime juice. Make sure to taste it with a chip as the salt on the chip will change the balance of the flavors.

Pour the salsa into a bowl, it will still be warm, and then stir in the tablespoon of honey into the salsa. Taste again, the honey should bring out the underlying sweetness of the ingredients. Add a tiny bit more as needed until you like the balance between sweet, spicy and smokey.

I mostly use this salsa for eating with chips - mainly because it's so popular that it goes fast!