Name: Roasted Tomato Salsa
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 600 g tomatoes, halved; 1 onion, about 150 g, cut into wedges; 2 jalapenos, about 40 g; 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled; 1 tbsp sunflower oil; 2 limes, juice only, about 60 ml; 15 g fresh coriander; ½ tsp salt

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Tomatoes, onion, jalapenos and garlic roasted until charred, then blended with lime and coriander.

35 min total Serves 8 servings Easy

The Method for Roasted Tomato Salsa

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Heat the oven to 220°C / 430°F. Toss the tomatoes, onion, jalapenos and garlic with the oil on a tray, tomatoes cut-side down.
Roast for 25 minutes until blackened in patches and collapsed. Cool for 5 minutes.
Squeeze the garlic from its skins. Pulse the vegetables with the lime juice, coriander and salt until chunky.
Taste and adjust. Serve warm or cold.

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What Can Go Wrong

Let the vegetables blacken.
Pulse, do not purée.
If your oven runs hot, check at 20 minutes.
Taste for lime and salt.

Swaps and Variations

Lemon is the everyday swap for limes in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

The Short Version

What does roasting do to a salsa? It browns the sugars in the tomatoes and onion, turning a sharp, fresh sauce into a deeper, smokier one with a darker colour.

Halve the tomatoes and set them cut-side down on a tray with the onion wedges, the jalapenos and the whole, unpeeled garlic. Roast at 220°C / 430°F for 25 minutes, until the skins are blackened in patches and the tomatoes have collapsed. Do not skip the blackening. The charred spots carry the smoky flavour.

If your oven runs hot, check at 20 minutes. Cool the vegetables for 5 minutes, then squeeze the garlic from its skin. Peel the tomatoes if you want a smoother salsa, or leave the skins for a rustic one.

Blend in short pulses, so that the salsa keeps some texture, with the lime juice, coriander and salt. Taste and adjust. The salsa thickens as it cools and tastes better the next day. Serve warm or cold.

What to Serve It With

Tortilla chips · Tacos · Scrambled eggs · Grilled chicken

Leftovers

Keeps in the fridge for 5 days.