Good Salsa
Roasted Salsa (Finally, the Recipe Is First)
Ingredients
- 4 Roma tomatoes
- 4 tomatillos
- 1 jalapeño
- ½ Serrano pepper
- 1 dried guajillo chili (soaked until soft)
- ½ large onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 bunch cilantro
- Generous salt and black pepper
- Juice of one lime
- A spoon or two of chicken bouillon powder
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Cut all the veggies (deseed the peppers) and toss them in olive oil.
- Broil everything in the oven at 450°F until blistered. The Roma tomatoes will take the longest. Pour boiled water on the dried guajillo chili and let it soak while your veggies are in the oven.
- Drain off the excess liquid from the pan. This step keeps it from turning watery.
- Add everything to a blender with salt, pepper, cilantro, lime juice, and bouillon.
- Pulse lightly until you’ve got a chunky texture, not a puree.
This salsa goes great on fajitas, tacos, or just with chips right out of the fridge. It’s rich, smoky, and mild. No sweat, just flavor.
Story Time (Now That You’ve Got the Recipe)
I’m putting the recipe first because I’m sick of scrolling through somebody’s whole life story before I find out how long to roast a tomato. So here you go, straight to the point.
Back in my early 20s, I had a girlfriend who made salsa. That was her thing. I liked it, but looking back, it was watery and kind of lazy. Just blended up with no thought to texture or balance.
Now I’ve got years of cooking under my belt. I’ve watched a ridiculous amount of cooking videos and learned how to tweak things to my taste. I decided to make my own homemade salsa. How bad could it be? My first attempt was simple: Roma, onion, tomatillo, garlic, salt, pepper, jalapeño, and a bit of Serrano. I tried roasting on a skillet, but it didn’t pull much water out. The flavor was there, but it was still too thin.
This version fixed that. Broiling everything gets the water out and brings out that roasted sweetness. The guajillo adds depth, the bouillon gives it that savory punch, and the lime ties it all together. The texture is thick and perfect, and the spice is mild enough that you can pile it on without setting your mouth on fire.
