Fire Roasted Salsa

When I lived in British Columbia, one of the things I missed was Mexican food. The ladies at my church had a salsa cook one year, and I got the recipe from them. Over the years, I have made it a few times, and changed it as I went, and this time I added a bit of extra kick to it with habanero peppers, and with grilling the peppers, garlic and tomatoes before building the salsa. So without further ado, here is my take on salsa.

This is a cooked salsa, reminiscent of La Victoria or Pace picante sauce (though much better than either).

Ingredients:


6 pounds Roma tomatoes
10 jalapeño peppers
5 habanero peppers
1/2 bulb garlic* (about 6 cloves)
3 28 oz cans diced tomatoes

6 medium onions, chopped
3 6 oz cans tomato paste
3 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Kosher (coarse) salt
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat a grill to medium. Cut the top off the bulb of garlic, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and place, cut side up, on the grill. Toss jalapeños and habaneros in oil, place on the grill. Place tomatoes on the grill. Turn as each side blisters and toasts to evenly roast the peppers and tomatoes - tomato skins will blister and pull back. Turn the garlic once to roast from the cut side. Remove all peppers and garlic to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to steam about 20 minutes. Remove tomatoes to a bowl or sheet pan, allow to cool enough to handle.

Rough chop onions into a large stock pot. Seed and chop bell peppers, add to stock pot. Add canned tomatoes to stock pot. Carefully peel and split roasted tomatoes (I split them over the pot to squeeze out the juice). Discard the peel, roughly chop the tomatoes and add to pot. For the next step, I wear disposable latex gloves. Peel, seed and dice the jalapeño and habanero peppers and add to the pot. Squeeze the garlic bulb and mince half the roasted garlic, add to a pot (the remaining garlic will keep in the refrigerator a few days in a sealed container - yummy!). Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 2 hours.

This is great with chips, on eggs, or anywhere else you would use salsa.