It never donned on me that you could make your own salsa at home.I especially had no idea how freaking easy it was. I thought there would be lots of chopping and prepping. Nope. It’s a throw everything in the blender kind of deal. YES! Favorite kinds of meals/foods ever!!!
You may not be familiar with Salsa Ranchera, and that’s cool. I hadn’t heard of it myself until researching a recipe for something else and stumbled upon it. It’s not your go to restaurant style salsa which all taste pretty similar. Instead this this guy is chocked full of roasted, charred goodness. Mmmm charred tomato and pepper. I could eat roasted peppers every day, doesn’t matter the kind. Frankly if you roast any vegetable I am pretty much game. I love the depth of flavor it creates and makes food all soft and buttery. Okay sorry I was having a moment there. So this salsa… you definitely need to give it a whirl as it’s not your average Joe of salsas.
So the main stage pepper in this recipe is the Serrano pepper. It is actually kind of similar to jalapenos and can be traded out for one another in a lot of cases, such as in salsa and pico de gallo. They look a lot a like too, so heads up. They are said to be hotter than jalapenos, but I didn’t register that when noming. *For the record – I am not sensitive to heat at all. So if jalapenos aren’t your thing due to heat, serranos probably won’t be either. Poor peppers. I didn’t have to troop to a specialty store either for these little guys. I found them at a major grocery chain alongside other peppers such as poblanos and bell peppers. Now wasn’t that educational.
Have you ever dry roasted something? Well, dry roasting, which in this case is what gives you that wonderful char is so easy to do. Literally a heated skillet, your veg and a little stirring action, and you got yourself some charred/dry roasted goodness. I just super recommend letting the pan cool before you proceed to do anything else with it. I being brilliant, decided to add my oil and onions (the next step in the recipe) without letting the pan cool. Annndd sort of ended up with a mobile deep fryer on my hands. Split splat everywhere. Oil onion hot mess. Soooo lesson learned and I pass that knowledge onto you. Seriously.
Basically this salsa can be used in place of your go to version without a problem. Top yo tacos, dip your chip, add to those scrambled eggs, spruce up that grilled cheese. Seriously, whatever you are doing with your salsa – this salsa it can do that.
With just a few ingredients and all this flavor it’s a must try. Plus it’s salsa, who doesn’t want som salsa action in their life. Saaaalsaaaa.
And because this salsa has so many potential uses I have something coming up soon that will let you put your salsa to work! But if you’re already grabbing chips and headed back to the couch with this bad boy in hand, have at it. You can always make more.
So check back because there’s something very delicious with this salsa coming up next.
Ingredients:
- 3 Serrano peppers
- 1.5 lbs ripe romatoes, stemmed
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1/2 cup onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
Directions:
In a medium pan over medium heat, without oil, char (dry roast) the outside of the Serrano peppers. Remove from pan and once cooled enough to touch, roughly chop peppers removing the stem. Repeat the same process with the whole tomatoes, moving them constantly in the pan to to achieve char all over and a soft inside. Set whole tomatoes aside to cool.
In the now cooled medium pan, add grape seed oil and heat over medium/high heat. Add chopped onions and cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile in a food processor, add chopped charred peppers, whole charred tomatoes and garlic, pulse until mixture is smooth but still slightly chunky.
Add mixture to the pan with onions. Stir and bring to a simmer over low heat, scraping the bottom of the pan as needed. Cook until sauce has reduced and slightly thickened. Salt and pepper to taste.
NOTES:
Crunched for time? Try using a can (14.5 oz) of fire roasted tomatoes, you won’t get the same great flavor but it’s a time saver if you are low on time or tomatoes were just not looking fab at the store.
