My Salsa… Part Dos.

Just before Thanksgiving took over, I posted about a green salsa I made and LOVED.

Well, it was not made alone.

Here is my second salsa, a red salsa. Salsa Roja, if you will… Whatever you call it, it’s delicious.

I don’t like my red salsa to be chunky or crunchy or as “fresco” as the green one. I like my red salsa to have a bit of a heartier flavor, a lot more heat and a smoky-ness to it that really only comes from roasting the shit out of those tomatoes!

So, let’s get to it!

 

INGREDIENTS:

Again, this amount of ingredients is going to yield about a gallon of salsa. Plan accordingly… (It freezes well!)

4lbs tomatoes, halved, I used Roma and regular old hothouse
3 red bell peppers, halved
4 jalapenos, halved, the amount depends on the heat you want. I keep jalapeno juice in my fridge to spice it up a lot more, since we like one bite of salsa to send us into fits of sweats…
3 white onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, peeled
1 bunch of cilantro, more if you like the taste, I was surprised how much I needed…
Cumin, salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, thyme

DIRECTIONS:

Follow the directions in the link to the green salsa above, roasting the veggies a bit longer, allowing them to get REALLY charred under the broiler.

Blend well, season to taste… I have more spices than I can name on my fingers and toes, it’s what you do to your food that makes it YOURS. Remember that things like cumin and chili powder may seem frivolous, but if your salsa tastes off, they can bring it back to a normal taste in a jif. As a “White Girl” venturing into a world of cooking beyond Easy Mac and Uncle Ben’s, I didn’t know WHAT flavors I was tasting when I ate certain foods, and although I feel I’ve mastered a lot of dishes, even this threw me off a bit. It just tasted like veggies until I started seasoning away. Cumin made a world of difference and so did the chili powder, which I wouldn’t have thought of the latter, off the top of my head…

Anyway, that’s all there is to it. It’s best to let the flavors hang out over night and get friendly with one another. The longer it sits, the better it tastes… Well, until it goes bad, then it obviously takes like crap, amiright?

Enjoy!