For some reason yesterday I had a sudden urge to be back in Austin, Texas, sitting outside on the deck at Trudy’s, sipping a margarita and eating chips and salsa. (Might have had something to do with all the clouds on this so-called summer day.)
At least I could have one part of the equation: salsa, though arguable not as fresh, but still immensely delicious.
The recipe is based on my Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa recipe, but for lack of tomatillos, I just used regular plum tomatoes instead. This recipe is great because you can make it with tinned tomatoes, though it’s a special kind of awesome if you use fresh.
The other bonus is that this salsa is good hot or cold, so you could potentially use it as a sauce for margaritas. I like to have it warm with scrambled eggs.
Chipotles can be hard to find in the UK, but shops are starting to stock them, both dried or in “adobo sauce” (what I used). Feel free to use whatever chilli you can get your hands on, but go easy: add a little bit of chilli at a time to get the right level of spiciness. There’s nothing worse than making salsa, only to ruin it by adding too much chilli.
Roasted Tomato and Chipotle Salsa
If you’ve got fresh tomatoes for this, use them. There’s nothing quite like fresh roasted tomatoes in a salsa. Alas, I usually only have enough of the canned stuff, and they do the job very well. I’ll sometimes mix in a bit of diced fresh tomato at the end, to make the salsa a bit chunkier and give it a refreshing lift. This salsa is good hot or cold, and I especially love it with scrambled eggs.
Ingredients
- 2 14oz/450g cans plum tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp each cumin and mustard seeds (optional)
- 5 cloves garlic, skins intact
- 1/2 sweet white onion, finely diced
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- a small pinch of sugar
- a good pinch of salt
- 1 large tomato, finely chopped
- juice from one lime
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 390F.
- Pour the olive oil into a baking tray. Add the tomatoes (juice and all), garlic cloves and mustard and cumin seeds if using. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is soft and the tomato juices have reduced a bit.
- Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and discard the skins. Add the garlic, tomatoes and half of the chipotle to a blender or food processor. Pulse just a few times to break up the tomatoes, but not enough to puree. Poor the mix into a bowl.
- Add the onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and sugar and mix well. Taste and add more salt or chipotle if necessary.
- Let the salsa refrigerate for at least an hour or two to really let the flavours blend.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes (largely unattended)
Per 2 Tbsp salsa: 526 Calories | 18 grams Fat | 63 grams Carbohydrates | 30 grams Protein | 3 grams Fiber
That salsa sounds amazing on almost anything–I could really go for some huevos rancheros now!
Cheers. I could go for some migas.
Woah this looks excellent! Chipotles in adobo sauce are hard to find here too… At the moment I only have one tin left in my cupboard. I feel a salsa coming on! 😉