I’ve had a request to know how I make my salsa, so here goes. I usually play it by ear as far as measurements go, but I’ll try to get this as accurate as possible.
Ingredients
- 4 Roma/Plum Tomatoes (6 if you like your salsa tomato-y)
- 12-15 Tomatillos (husked and washed)
- 4-6 Poblano Peppers
- 3 Anaheim Peppers
- 2 Serrano Peppers (to make mild salsa. If you like medium heat, add another. For hot, add one more. For extra hot, throw the whole bush in)
- 1 Medium Sweet Yellow Onion
- 1/2 bunch of Cilantro
- 6 cloves of garlic (more if you’re like me and love garlic)
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 Lime (2 if you like it lime-y)
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
Put your oven on Broil and let it get hot. Place the tomatoes, tomatillos, poblanos, anaheims, serranos, and garlic (skin on) on a cookie sheet (with edges, sometimes it gets juicy). Pour the Olive Oil over the garlic. Place it directly under the broiler for 5 minutes. Flip the vegetables over, and broil for 5 more minutes. Flip one more time, and broil for 5 more minutes. Take out everything except the Tomatoes and Tomatillos. Place the Tomatoes and Tomatillos back in for 5 – 10 more minutes. The goal here is to get everything charred black on the outside and the garlic nice and soft. The Tomatoes won’t really char as much as the rest, since they are so juicy inside and the skin just peels back. Do the best you can.
Dice the onion and place it in a pot. Remove the stem ans seeds from the Poblanos and Anaheims and dice what’s left. Remove the stem from the Serranos (but leave the seeds) and dice. The Tomatoes and Tomatillos are a bit tricker since they are so juicy. I don’t like to put my salsa in a food processor because I like it chunky, so I dice these by hand and try to preserve as much juice as possible. If you want, you can just throw them in a blender. Don’t make tomato juice out of them though. Leave them on the chunky side. Throw the vegetables in the pot too. Remove the skin from the garlic and smash it up a bit. Then throw it in the pot.
Put the pot on the stove on medium-high. It should sizzle and eventually, it will make enough juice to begin boiling a bit. When it does, turn it down to medium. You want it to boil, but not so much that it’ll spatter. Juice the lime and throw it in the pot. Add salt and pepper. Cover. Stir every couple of minutes (so it doesn’t stick) for about 15 – 20 minutes. Chop the Cilantro and throw it in the pot. Remove the cover. There shouldn’t be MUCH juice to begin with since we didn’t add any water. However, after cooking for 20 minutes there isn’t any juice at all, you may want to add 1/4 cup of water. If the salsa’s too thick people won’t know it’s salsa. Taste for salt content. You might need a little more. Don’t worry too much about the "heat" level or the flavor at this point, as, it will change drastically after it cools (it will get hotter and will have more incorporated flavors). Simmer and reduce until the consistency is as desired. I like mine very thick. Others prefer it a bit runny. It’s all about how you like it.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. By now, your entire house will stink like roasted peppers. Mmmm. After it cools, place in an air tight container and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Ta da!