Recipe File: Roasted Chile Tomato Salsa

I lived in the Southwest for about eight years in my 20s. For a lot of that time, I lived in a neighborhood in Las Vegas with a thriving food culture like I’d never experienced. There were a one large and two small Mexican groceries in my neighborhood, all of whom made their own salsas, marinated meats and homemade sausages and cheeses.

The tiny grocery closest to my house was family-run, and they made the best salsa I’d ever had. It was fresh and spicy and I craved it daily. Only problem-when the salsa ran out, it was out for a while. That family made it fresh each week, and if you didn’t get there on Sunday or Monday, you didn’t get any.

So with the help of friends, I learned to make it. The best way I can describe it is that it’s similar to the consistency of the salsa they serve at the Mexican restaurants in my area (La Charreada) but with a little bit of a different flavor. It’s not the quickest recipe, but I’ve found the results to be much different, and better, than any jar of salsa I’ve ever bought.

A few tips: 

* I tend to call salsa peppers “chiles” instead of peppers to differentiate between those and sweet peppers.

* Buy more chiles than you need. A lot of times, I won’t get the entire chile to peel perfectly, and at other times, the chiles are very small. The amount of peppers you use is entirely up to you, but this is a guide to one good formula.

* Very important-Add jalapenos just a little at a time. Start with just a half a jalapeno, and work your way up. You can always add more heat, but it’s difficult to make scorching hot salsa milder. This recipe is for Medium heat, but my jalapenos are also huge. If you have smaller jalapenos, you may need to add more.

* Salt is key. To me, the salt is what helps make the tomato/chile mixture taste like salsa. As you’ll be using all natural ingredients, it’s necessary to add more salt than you might think-as Emeril once said, “my tomatoes don’t grow seasoned”.

Ingredients:

1 Poblano Chile

3 Anaheim Chile

1/2 Jalapeno Chile (or more or less to taste)

2 28-oz cans whole tomatoes (or equivalent amount of fresh tomatoes, peeled and stem ends removed)

1/4 tsp sugar

1.5 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

For the Chiles:

1. Prepare chiles
   Clean chiles and dry thoroughly.Â


2. Prepare heat
   Preheat your oven to 400. Arrange your chiles in rows on a foil-lined baking sheet.


3. Char chiles
   Roast chiles in the oven until they begins to blacken. The entire chile will not be completely black, but it should be charred about 60%. The bottoms of the peppers will blacken first, so watch them every few minutes until the bottoms are black. Flip the peppers over, then blacken the other side. The second side of the peppers will blacken more quickly than the first side. This process will take approximately 12-20 minutes.


4. Remove from heat
   Carefully remove the charred chiles from the baking pan. Tongs are helpful for this.


5. Sweat chiles (Optional)
   Carefully place the chiles into a plastic baggie and seal it. This will steam the chiles to continue the cooking and make the skins easier to remove. Let the chiles sweat for 10-15 minutes. Use additional baggies if roasting a large number of chiles.


6. Remove skins (Gloves are optional, but suggested, for peeling jalapenos)
   Remove the chiles from the bag one at a time. Remove the skins while holding the chile under cold water. As you remove them, rub the chiles to remove the skins. Remove the entire stem and the seeds as well. You may leave a few seeds in, but the seeds will add a lot of heat.


7. 

For the Salsa:

Place all of the roasted, peeled chiles in a food processor along with about 1 and a half cans of the canned tomatoes, reserving the juice. Add salt, pepper, garlic and sugar. Add a dash of the juice from the canned tomatoes.

Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped and well incorporated. If your salsa is too thick, add the juice from the canned tomatoes a little at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.

Then, taste your salsa. Adjust seasonings and add jalapenos if desired.

If your salsa tastes too tomatoey, add salt, a quarter teaspoon at a time, until it is to your taste. Alternately, you can also add more chiles if you have them.

If your salsa has too much chile flavor, add the remainder of the tomatoes from the second can, and pulse in the blender to combine.

Enjoy!