Chunky tomato salsa

If you need a recipe for some of all the beautiful tomatoes in season right now, try this chunky tomato salsa.

Having never actually made a blended salsa like this before (I’m usually on team ‘salad type salsa’ – try my recipes for watermelon salsa and charred and raw corn salsa too), I’ll definitely be making this tomato salsa again and again from now on. It’s so easy to make and it tastes so much better than any store bought salsa!

Give it a try and I’m sure, that you’ll agree!

When developing recipes, especially ones I’ve never tried making before, I research the basic principles behind the dish (what are the specific characteristics) and I look at others work too – how do they do it? What ingredients do they use? And so on…

Turns out, that there’s a lot (A LOT) of ways to make salsa – from choice of ingredients (fresh or canned) to preparation of ingredients (raw or cooked), etc.

I knew, that I wanted to use all fresh ingredients and I knew I wanted it to be the most flavorful salsa possible (who would have thought, eh?) so I worked it out from there.

Luckily ’tis the season for fresh beautiful produce and the farmers markets (regular grocery stores too) are overflowing with tomatoes, peppers and fresh herbs especially! Honestly, it’s like salsa is written in the stars at the moment…

Maximize flavors

To maximize flavors, I decided to broil the vegetables.

Broiling adds depth, sweetness and a subtle smokiness (of course it’s even better, if you can char the vegetables on a BBQ, but an oven will do to) – a wonderful base for the salsa!

Knowing that fat is a natural flavor enhancer, however not traditional (optimized flavor  > traditional recipes – any day!), I decided to add some olive oil too.

The result is a really flavorful rustic salsa, with a nice kick from the jalapeño and a creamy texture from the olive oil.

A great salsa to eat with all the things – tacos, nachos, your morning eggs, in baked potatoes, with fried plantain… I won’t bore you with ways to eat salsa though, I’m sure you’ve got your favorite ways covered already, no?

Chunky tomato salsa

If you need a recipe for all the beautiful tomatoes in season right now, try this chunky tomato salsa. It’s made with simple, fresh ingredients and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be your new favorite thing!

Servings 7 C / 1,75 L

Ingredients

• 3 lbs / 1362 g meaty flavorful tomatoes (I used a mix of red and yellow), halved
• 1 lb / 454 g yellow onions, quartered
• 1-3 green jalapeños (I used 1 1/2 for medium heat), tops cut off and most of the ribs and seeds removed (feel free to keep the ribs and seeds if you want it really spicy though)
• 10 cloves garlic
• 2 large handfuls cilantro
• 1/4 C / 62,5 ml mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 juicy lime
• 3 tsp granulated garlic
• 2-3 tsp fine grain pink Himalayan salt or sea salt (I used 3 tsp)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp fine ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven on broil setting HIGH.
2. Place tomatoes (skin side up), onions, jalapeños (skin side up) and garlic cloves on a parchment paper lined OR lightly greased baking sheet.
3. Broil vegetables for 10 minutes or until pretty evenly charred. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
4. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency – since the salsa has a bit of oil in it, it will naturally be a bit creamier than usual. I like the consistency to be on the chunkier side, so I’m careful not to over-process.
5. Season to taste.

Storage and shelf life

1. The chunky salsa stores well in the fridge (I prefer to store in glass jars) for about a week.

Do you want to print the recipe for chunky tomato salsa? I’ve got you!