Grilled Salsa
Sure, you love salsa. But have you ever grilled it?
Full Recipe Video:
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
3 medium, firm vine ripe tomatoes
1 poblano pepper
2 medium-large jalapeños (adjust for desired level of spiciness)
1/2 yellow onion, skin on
1 lime
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup cilantro
5-6 garlic cloves, in outer peel
White vinegar
Olive Oil
Sea salt
Turn burners on gas grill on high (450 degrees). You can also grill your veggies on a coal or wood fired BBQ.
The following veggies will be placed on the grill whole: tomatoes, poblano, and jalapeños.
Leave the skin on the yellow onion, and place 1/2 onion flat side down on the grill.
Cut the lime in half and place each flat side down on the grill.
Remove 5-6 individual cloves from a head of garlic, leaving the outer skin on. This will ensure they don’t burn. So the cloves don’t fall through the grill, we put the cloves in a small cast iron skillet on the grill.
Grill all your vegetables until all sides are charred. Some will cook much faster than others, so make sure you continue to keep an eye on everything and turn some of the veggies that need turning once one side is charred. The lime will cook the fastest - cook until you start to see grill marks on the fruit. Garlic cloves should start to show char marks on the skin.
As things become done, remove them from the grill to a cutting board.
Once all veggies are sufficiently grilled, it’s time to prepare them for the food processor.
Tomatoes: quarter tomatoes and add to food processor.
Poblano: cut the top off the pepper, remove the interior seeds. Cut pepper in half or a few smaller pieces and add to your food processor.
Jalapenos: Cut to tops off the peppers. It’s your choice whether you want to leave the seeds in or remove them. We opt to leave the seeds for the spice, but if you prefer your salsa on the mild side, then seeds should be removed. Add to food processor.
Onion: remove the outer skin from the onion and throw into the food processor.
Lime: squeeze lime juice from both lime halves into food processor.
Bell Pepper: cut top off pepper, remove inner seeds and membrane, and cut in half. Add to food processor.
Garlic: the garlic should be very tender - to the point where you can cut each clove at the tip and squeeze the cloves out of the skin. Add cloves to food processor.
Cilantro: Add cilantro to food processor - no need to chop.
Give the food processor a few light pulses to get ingredients chopped, but not too fine. 2-3 pulses should be all you need as the warm/cooked veggies will break down quickly.
Open lid and add a splash of white vinegar, a splash of olive oil, and a small handful of sea salt to taste. Return lid to food processor and give the salsa 1-2 more light pulses.
This should sufficiently combine all the ingredients. Spoon into a bowl and serve immediately, or store in a container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use!
Salsa should last about a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator, but can also be frozen.
Notes:
As with everything, the quality of the ingredients you buy always makes a difference. We like to get all our produce from our local farmers market to have the freshest produce we possibly can. And we love shopping local.
This salsa is so fresh and so flavorful - all the wonderful ingredients flavor is accelerated by the heat of the grill. We love eating this with fresh tortilla chips or storing this in the fridge to add to eggs, salads, tacos/burritos, etc. throughout the week.
Plus, cooking is always more fun and rewarding when you can take it outside to the grill.
