Roasted Salsa

When Martine and I were in California last September, we spent a very pleasant day hiking around Mount Tamalpais with friends, after which we retired to their house high up on a hill in San Rafael for a barbecue dinner complete with a salad plucked from their garden. As an entry to the meal, our host served (among other things) some tortilla chips and salsa from a local shop. The salsa was “roasted salsa,” which I’d never seen before. It was basically regular home-style salsa (read: not ketchupy) except the vegetables had been roasted.

It was really tasty, and I think I may have embarrassed myself with the extent to which I tucked in. However, I made a mental note to try making it from scratch when I got home, and I have done so twice since then. Here is my report.

Production Notes

The timing in the recipe below is based on estimates; the best thing is to just keep an eye on it and use your judgement. Also, quantities reflect how I like it; feel free to modify to your taste.

Remember that the jalapenos will basically dissolve if you over-do it, but the red peppers and onions will get nicely charred with prolonged roasting. I suggest you take things out of the oven as they are done instead of expecting everything to be done at the same time. That’s why I also suggest you arrange things on the baking sheet grouped by vegetable instead of just scattered willy-nilly.

With a few slight variations (e.g., olive oil, basil, and less vinegar) this could be a bruschetta instead of a salsa.

Note that I do not use lime or any other citrus juice; citrus juice will overwhelm the deep and subtle rich flavours that roasting brings out. For that reason, I use good old basic white vinegar for the necessary acidity.

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 1 onion, cut in 8ths, and rubbed lightly with oil.
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered and seeded
• 2 or 3 jalapeno peppers, halved and seeded
• 5 cloves of garlic, still in their paper, rolled in oil
• 1/2 cup of regular white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp of sugar (optional)
• 1 tbsp neutral flavoured oil oil (e.g., grapeseed)
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (alternatively, use parsley)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

• Preheat oven to 450ºF.
• On a large, lightly oiled non-stick baking sheet (or two roasting pans), spread the vegetables, grouped together by type. Tomatoes, red peppers, and jalapenos should be skin side up.
• Roast for 20 minutes.
• Remove the jalapenos and garlic cloves – they should be done by now (the garlic cloves will not be as soft as regular roasted garlic, but if you leave it longer it will just burn).
• Continue to roast for another 15-20 minutes, until remaining vegetables are soft and skins start to blacken.
• Remove from oven and let cool.
• Remove the skins from the tomatoes and red peppers. Take garlic cloves out of their papers.
• Coarsely chop everything up and combine in a non-reactive bowl along with the vinegar, salt, pepper, oil, sugar, and herbs.

Above is what it looked like the second time I made it. The first time, there was more charred and blackened bits, which I preferred. But this time the vegetables were more evenly cooked. Next time I’ll try to hit it out of the park by getting some of it charred without burning the other stuff.

Enjoy!