It’s Cinco de Mayo!  Do you have any plans for embracing the holiday?  I’m going to hit up the store and hopefully make a nice feast for us for dinner.  In honor of the day, I’m sharing a new salsa recipe!  I’m very particular about salsa.  It has to be just right for me to enjoy it.  The best salsas that I’ve had have been at little Mexican restaurants.  I’ve tried to recreate them myself with zero luck.  I had no idea what the problem was because I tried every which way.

Recently I had some baby heirloom tomatoes that needed used up before they turned on me.  I was flip-flopping about what to make with them when I decided that I would try making salsa again.  This time I had a different plan of attack; roasting.

There is fresh salsa that can be made with all raw ingredients and then there is salsa where the tomatoes are cooked.  I prefer cooked tomatoes but will gladly take some raw salsa off your hands if need be.

I threw caution to the wind, crossed my fingers, and hoped that this salsa would turn out delicious.

Andrea’s Roasted Tomato Salsa

• 1 1/2 lbs Baby heirloom tomatoes
• 1/4-1/3 Of a Small onion, chunked
• 1 Jalapeno, seeded
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• Handful of cilantro
• Small amount of olive oil (about 2 tsp)
• Sprinkle of salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.  In a storage bag or medium size bowl combine tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  If you have slightly bigger tomatoes, you can cut them in half first.  Place tomatoes on the baking sheet and roast in oven for about 10 minutes.  You want the tomatoes to be warmed through and just starting to break down.  They will look like this:

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Once cooled, dump this mixture into a food processor, add in the lime juice, onion, and cilantro.  Pulse until you get the texture you desire.  I like a slightly smoother salsa.  Taste test to see if you need to add a bit more salt, cilantro, or lime juice.  Remove from food processor and place in a glass or other nonreactive bowl.  Can be served warm or chilled!

Holy cow guys this was the best salsa I ever made!  Scott and I literally could not stop eating it and I started thinking of all different kinds of ways I could use it up!  I’m also planning on making more as soon as I can!

You do not have to use baby heirlooms, I just happened to have those on hand.  You can use cherry or grape tomatoes.  Heck you can even use regular tomatoes if you want, this was more of a technique that I wanted to share with you.

I kept the onion raw because the salsas I ended up liking the most had this comb of cooked tomatoes and raw onion.  I roasted the garlic with the tomatoes in order to cut the sharpness that raw garlic can have.  I like garlic anyway you want to throw it at me but I also realize that not everyone feels the same way.  Roasting the garlic also helps cut down on potential dragon breath.  We’ve all experienced that, right?

I’ve been playing around with salsas a lot lately so you can expect to see more this summer!

If you’re looking to try your hand at making salsa at home, try roasting the tomatoes, you might be surprised by the outcome!

Have fun guys and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Related recipes:

Watermelon Salsa

Lentil Tacos