My mom isn't really the cooking type, but from as far back as I can remember, my family gatherings were centered around delicious food. I fondly remember potato salad, "angel" eggs, warm rolls, stuffing and gravy, delicious baked good, and much more. I also remember helping cook with my grandpa, the thought just occurred to me that he is the reason I'm so passionate about food. My favorite thing when I was 3 was making cinnamon bread with grobbies, its what my grandpa used to call raisins and I will uphold that tradition with my future children. I also love cooking for others, food just makes everyone happy and I love being the cause of happiness, it makes me feel complete!
Well, now that you know a little about my foodie history, I am going to release to you a fantastic recipe, my salsa. I am excruciatingly picky about my salsa, my fiance would say about everything but that is a blog post for another time... ;)
So about the salsa, I like my salsa very spicy with an almost pureed consistency. I say almost because I like my onions to be a little chunky. Pico de Gallo has chunks, salsa should be smooth. Strange, right? I remember sharing salsa with my mom when I was a kid, we always had to use the same little, black bowl with the burnt bubble in the bottom from when I accidentally put it in the microwave and she had to eat all of the chunks and leave all of the salsa liquid for me. I'm pretty sure she was wondering how she ended up having the strangest child ever...
My salsa must also have outrageous flavor, which is why I roast my vegetables before I mix them all together. When you are cooking with produce, each ingredient must taste great on its own or it shouldn't be used at all. I carefully select all of my ingredients so that they are all exceptional.
First, I slice all of my veggies in half, except my Serrano peppers, I just cut the tops off of those. Oh, and sometimes I quarter my onions.
The next step is really important, it's what gives the salsa its delicious flavor. Put your sliced veggies in a preheated oven and roast away.
How delicious do those veggies look! The peppers should have a slight char and the onions should be nice and translucent. The easiest way to finish this would just be to put it in a food processor or blender, but I sadly have neither, so I chop all the veggies and toss them in my Kitchenaid.
Here is the delicious finished product, that I have already spilled on myself. I literally turned my bowl upside down on my blanket right after I filled it. The bad news, I had to wash my blanket and I got Habanero pepper on it. The good news, I did the bachelor thing and didn't waste this delicious salsa. I grabbed some chips and ate it right off the blanket. Don't judge. I was home alone and no one saw me.
This recipe easily fills a half gallon mason jar, which is pictured.
Ingredients:
2 Yellow Onions
16 Roma Tomatoes
10-12 Cloves of Garlic
12 Serrano peppers
2 Jalapeno peppers
1 small Habanero pepper
1 bunch of cilantro
*secret ingredient warning* Juice of 1 fresh lemon
Salt to taste
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Cut up all ingredients to your preference, mine is pictured above, and place on a baking sheet or two. I like to line mine with foil, but thats not necessary.
3. Roast for 30-40 minutes, depending on how your oven heats, I just look at my veggies every few minutes after the 30 minute mark.
4. Chop cilantro and juice the lemon, then combine all ingredients in a blender/kitchenaid/food processor.
Always taste along the way to see if you need to add anything. I ended up adding quite a bit more salt than I thought I was going to, I think it was around 2 tablespoons.
Well, there ya go! Now its time for you to make your own delicious salsa. Feel free to take out some peppers because this many makes it super hot. One more word of advice, don't start making this at 9:30 pm if you are tired, it gets a little less fun when you just want to sit down ;)
