Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Late in the growing season, one of the farmer’s markets we frequent was giving away free vegetable plants. My sons each picked a plant to bring home; my youngest choosing, not surprisingly, jalapeno peppers. The plant produced several peppers and we were just able to pluck them before the weather turned cold. Our peppers were tiny and of various sizes, but roughly the equivalent of 2 medium sized jalapenos in total. I chose to roast the tomatoes to bring out their flavor and make this more of a fall-inspired salsa.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

This is a smoky, flavorful salsa.

4 tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed

5 tomatoes

1 medium onion, quartered

2 heads garlic

2 Jalapeno peppers

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

½ cup chopped Cilantro

Juice of ½ lime

Spray a medium sized baking pan with canola oil. Toss in tomatillos, tomatoes, onions, garlic and Jalapenos.

Broil for approximately 4 minutes. Keep a close eye on the garlic and Jalapenos as they will blacken more quickly than the larger vegetables. You will need to turn the smaller vegetables after about 2 minutes.

Turn vegetables over and broil for another 4 minutes. Remove the garlic and Jalapenos after two minutes and set aside to cool. After the tomatoes, onions and tomatillos are blackened on both sides, remove them as well and set aside to cool.

Pour juices from the roasting pan into a bowl.

When cooled, dice the garlic and jalapenos.

When cooled, chop the tomatoes and tomatillos. Go ahead and use a serrated knife to chop the tomatoes, it will make the job a lot easier.

I recommend hand chopping as roasting makes the tomatoes very soft and produces a lot of yummy, smoky juices. Using a food processor might make the salsa too runny.

Add the salt, toasted cumin seeds, juice of ½ lime and chopped cilantro.

Stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes 2 cups of salsa