I have mentioned in other posts that Adam and I are continually surprised and humbled by the responses we have received about the website and some of our recipes. One recipe that has certainly been accepted by our readers is our Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (Salsa Verde). There has been so much positive feedback that we decided to try the same recipe, but for red tomatoes instead of using tomatillos. I was skeptical since tomatillos really do have a lot of flavor and depending on the tomatoes you find in the store, their flavor may not be as pronounced, but we decided to go ahead anyway.
The basic process is the same as the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa recipe. Place the tomatoes, peppers and garlic under the broiler on high, turning each ingredient so all sides become slightly charred. Next, remove the core of the tomatoes as well as the skins of the peppers and garlic.
Finally, add the tomatoes, peppers (with or without seeds depending on how spicy you want the salsa to be) and garlic to some white onion, cilantro, and lemon or lime juice. Pulse the food processor a few times, and there you go.
The salsa turned out really well, at first we were a little concerned, becasue it did lack some flavor and depth, but we allowed the salsa to cool down (about 1 hour in refrigerator) and tried it again, it was much better, all the flavors had come together and we were really happy with it.
| Roasted Tomato Salsa |
- 1 pound tomatoes
- 1 jalapeno pepper (remove seeds to make the salsa mild)
- 1 serrano pepper
- 2 unpeeled garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup diced white onion
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Preheat broiler to high. Place the tomatoes, peppers and unpeeled garlic cloves in a baking dish with sides and put under the preheated broiler until the tomatoes are roasted and the peppers are slightly charred on all sides, about 10-15 minutes. (Rotate each ingredient to make sure all sides are slightly charred)
- Remove the baking dish from under the broiler. Peel the peppers and garlic (you may have to squeeze the soft garlic out of the skin) and remove extremely charred skin from the tomatoes, some is okay.
- Depending on how spicy you want the salsa to be, you can add all the peppers with seeds or you can remove half of the seeds. I used the whole serrano pepper, but removed the seeds from the jalapeno and the resulting salsa was spicy, but not too hot.
- Add the tomatoes, garlic and peppers to a food processor as well as the onions, cilantro, lemon or lime juice and salt. Pulse the food processor 3-4 times or until the salsa has come together. Allow the salsa to sit in the refrigerator for one hour, then serve.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the simple ingredients in this salsa but I bet roasting everything first makes them taste that much better! I’ll have to give that a try.
Roasting the tomatoes first is such a great idea. It brings out so much more flavor!
i have a few tomatillos in my kitchen at the moment…do you think i should add a few to the tomato salsa? and did you oil the pan before roasting? thanks
Melfox, We personally have never used both tomatoes and tomatillos in the same salsa recipe, but that certainly does not mean it wont work. I bet it would be really flavorful, the tomatoes should give a slightly sweet and light flavor and the tomatillos should give a slightly sharp / tart flavor to the salsa. I looked around on the web and found a Gourmet recipe using both, you should give the combination a try and let us know how it goes. You may want to increase the garlic, but I will leave that up to you.
Good Luck! Joanne
Melfox – No we did not oil the pan before roasting. After roasting, the ingredients come out of the pan easily and we did not have much cleaning up to do, but if you are concerned, you could certainly lightly oil the bottom of the pan.
~Joanne
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