I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had never made my own homemade salsa before this week. Once I figured out the basic method, I felt silly for never having tried to make this before, simply because it’s so easy! This salsa recipe is basically a pico de gallo mixed with some blended tomatoes and toasted garlic. The tomatoes and garlic are roasted whole with their skins on in a dry pan. I add some heat from a serrano pepper as well.
The following recipe makes a little over 2 cups of salsa, and can easily be scaled up or down.
Tortilla Chips with Homemade Spicy Salsa
I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had never made my own homemade salsa before this week. Once I figured out the basic method, I felt silly for never having tried to make this before, simply because it’s so easy! This salsa recipe is basically a pico de gallo mixed with some blended tomatoes and toasted garlic. The tomatoes and garlic are roasted whole with their skins on in a dry pan. I add some heat from a serrano pepper as well. The following recipe makes a little over 2 cups of salsa, and can easily be scaled up or down.
Ingredients
- 3 fully ripe summer tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 1 red onion (small dice)
- 1 serrano pepper (finely minced)
- Zest of 2 limes
- Juice of 2 limes
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 1 bag of tortilla chips
Instructions
- Add two of the whole tomatoes to a dry sauté pan with the unpeeled garlic.
- *The third tomato will be cut into a small dice later.
- Increase the heat to medium-high, and toast the garlic and tomato, moving the contents around frequently as they take on some dark spots of color.
- When the tomatoes have taken on some color and the garlic cloves are beginning to soften up, remove them from the heat.
- Remove the peel from the garlic.
- Remove the core, excess liquid, and seeds from the tomatoes.
- Blend the toasted garlic cloves with the seedless tomatoes until you arrive at the consistency of a puree, and set the mixture aside for later.
- *This tomato and garlic puree will be added to the pico de gallo mixture described below.
- For the pico de gallo, dice the final tomato and season with Kosher salt.
- Allow the tomato to sit for ten minutes to drain some of its excess liquid.
- In a bowl, combine the red onion, minced serrano pepper, lime zest, lime juice, and fresh cilantro.
- After the salted and diced tomato has sat for ten minutes, drain off the excess liquid.
- Combine the drained tomatoes with the pico de gallo mixture.
- Add the tomato and garlic puree mixture from earlier to the pico de gallo, and season to taste with Kosher salt or more lime.
- And voila—You have made yourself some delicious homemade salsa!
Notes
This salsa can be made in advance of serving and kept in the fridge. It’s a great item to bring to a party, but if you are serving to a large group, consider cutting the heat level slightly by using a jalapeno instead of a serrano pepper.
If you are in the mood to make your own tortilla chips, you can make your tortillas by hand, cook them briefly on a griddle, and then deep-fry them in vegetable oil.
