No, no you don't need a blowtorch for this recipe. The truth is, if you have a couple veggies and a stove, you've got everything you need to make this bright & delicious spring dip! This salsa is perfect for parties and potlucks. And the best part is you can make this hours, even days in advance and it'll be perfect, maybe even better as I'll explain later.
Roasting the peppers and the tomatoes (and even the limes) not only gives this salsa a better texture, but it makes it sweet and fruity. I know fruity is a weird adjective to describe salsa, but it's all my sleep deprived mind can produce. Get it. Produce. As in fruits and vegetables. Okay, now I'm just freestyling. Combined with the acidity of the limes and the spiciness of the jalapenos, I haven't found a salsa that is more balanced or delicious than this one. Chowtinue reading for the directions and recipe!
Preparation:
1. In a dry (no oil) skillet, place the red and green bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, and lime. Of course you won't be able to fit all of them in one batch. You can just split the veg in two batches. Crank the heat all the way to high and burn those babies. I feel like someone's gonna take that out of context and use it against me. Take your time to thoroughly scorch every side of the peppers, and only when every side is scorched transfer them to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. You can also put them in a large freezer bag. The steam will help the skin peel off easily.
A side note. When roasting the tomatoes, I like to turn them every twenty seconds so the skin doesn't crack. Tomatoes have a thinner peel than peppers do and if you let the tomatoes burn too long in one spot, they might start leaking and it'll make a big mess. Not like I would know...
2. While you're purposely burning food in the kitchen, you can prepare the onions and garlic. Peel, wash, and finely chop half a sweet onion. Slice the stalks of green onion, you may use the white and the green parts, and mince a couple garlic cloves. Set aside in a large bowl.
3. By now the peppers and the tomatoes have been resting in your covered bowl or bag for 15 minutes or so. Under cold water, rub the skins off the peppers and transfer them to another bowl. Continue with the tomatoes and the jalapenos.
4. For the red and green bell peppers, cut off the stems and empty the seeds. If you see some white membrane inside the pepper you can cut that off too. Generally those don't add much flavor to the final product. Finely chop the peppers and add them to the onions and garlic.
5. Do the same thing with the jalapenos, except now you have to remove the white membrane and all of the seeds. Finely mince them. A couple seeds will add some heat to the salsa, but you can play around with that. You can also play around with how large you make your jalapeno pieces. The larger they are the spicier the kick will be in your salsa. You should always wear gloves when working with jalapenos because trust me, they burn, like fire, and not like the good kind of fire. Is there a good kind of fire? Anyways, not like I would know about that either...
6. With the tomatoes, cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and watery bits. By the end you should only have the outside flesh. Finely chop that and add it to the rest of the ingredients.
7. The roasted lime will add a delicious sweetness as well as some bite. Add fresh lime juice for an extra bright punch of acidity. You can also add the zest if you wanted even more limeilicious flavor.
Because these are vegetables (my brother tells me they're fruits, but whatever), you need to season them generously with salt and pepper. The only reason why your fire roasted pepper salsa could taste bad, is if you didn't add enough salt! I also recommend letting the salsa marinade in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours to let the flavors marry. You'll be absolutely shocked how good this tastes the day after or even two days after. It's just bursting with salsa-y flavor.
But that is it for this post, I hope you took away something valuable, hopefully not my watch, although I'm not sure how that could be possible...cause I don't wear a watch. Gotcha! If there's anything you should take away from this blog, it is that burning your food actually makes the food taste better. True story. It just happened. If you learned something or found it interesting, please don't forget to comment, like, and share it to your social mediums. It really helps the blog stay afloat. I love you guys as always. And as always,
Chow!
Recipe
3 medium red bell peppers, roasted and finely chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, roasted and finely chopped
2 large jalapenos, actually the larger, the less hot. Roasted and finely minced.
2 medium vine tomatoes, roasted and finely chopped
2 limes, one roasted and one fresh. The zest must be taken from the fresh one for obvious reasons.
1/2 a medium sweet onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup sliced green onions, reserve some for the garnish
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
yields: 1 large bowl, perfect for a potluck or a party!
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