Ranchero Salsa Recipes

Steps:

• Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add oil to the hot skillet and place whole tomatoes and jalapenos in the pan. Cook, turning every 2 minutes, until all sides are scalded. Remove from the heat.
• Transfer tomatoes and jalapenos carefully to a blender and process until pureed.
• Cook and stir onion in the same skillet over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomato-jalapeno puree and pour in water; bring to a simmer. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and serve warm.

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. (500º).
• Place tomato quarters and pepper halves, cut side down, on broiler pan.
• Broil 4 inches from the heat for 5-7 minutes, 'til skins start to blacken.
• Remove from broiler pan; cool.
• Remove skins from tomatoes and peppers; finely chop.
• Cook onion and garlic in hot oil, in a small saucepan for 3 minutes.
• Stir in tomatoes, peppers and cumin. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 - 15 minutes or 'til most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Cool completely.

Steps:

• In a large heavy bottomed skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat until hot but not smoky. Add onion, peppers, and roma tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.
• In a food processor, puree garlic, diced tomato, and tomatillos. Add to onion mixture. Cook 5 minutes more.
• Add chilies, chipotle, jalapeno, and cilantro.
• Stir in orange juice concentrate, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
• Cook 5 more minutes or until desired thickness.

Steps:

• In a skillet, cook the bacon until done but soft, not crisp. Add the tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and serve hot over your morning eggs (huevos rancheros), tamales, beans (frijoles) or potatoes (papas). Serve cold with tortilla chips.

Steps:

• Saute onions and jalapenos over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic. Saute another 30 seconds. In a medium size sauce pan, smoke the oregano, cumin, and chile powder over a medium high heat until fragrant. Quickly add chicken stock, then all the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low. Reduce sauce by at least one half. Will freeze.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Arrange 2 onion quarters and 2 pounds tomatoes in a small roasting pan and drizzle with 1/4 cup oil. Arrange remaining 1 pound tomatoes in a small baking pan and drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup oil.
• Bake both pans of tomatoes in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans after 45 minutes, until browned, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove roasting pan and continue baking small pan of tomatoes until blackened, about 30 minutes more.
• Transfer all roasted tomatoes (do not peel) and onions with a slotted spoon to a food processor, discarding liquid in pans. If your processor is small, do this in 2 batches. Pulse until coarsely chopped. (Alternatively, you can chop with an immersion blender in a deep container.)
• Chop remaining 2 onion quarters and stir together with tomato mixture, serrano, cilantro, and vinegar. Season with salt and chill, covered, at least 8 hours to blend flavors. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Steps:

• Section the tomatoes and onion into pieces small enough for your food processor or blender to work effectively.
• I use a blender set on it lowest setting (mine says stir).
• **In a blender, slowly add all the ingredients, starting with the tomatoes and onions.
• Make sure not to put too much into your blender bowl at any one time, or it will not chop properly.
• Once the tomato and onion mixture is nice and smooth, continue to blend and incorporate all the other ingredients.
• **In a food processor, add all ingredients to the bowl and pulse until the mixture can withstand the continuous operation of the food processor.
• Process until smooth.
• FINAL INSTRUCTIONS-- Get some chips and a family member or a friend to help with the final adjustments.
• I usually have to tweak the amount of salt, cumin, cilantro or garlic to make it "perfect".
• If the onion or other seasonings are too much, add another tomato.
• Your salsa can be enjoyed now, but it is best after an overnight stay in the refrigerator.
• To make it the way I like it, I add one more tomato, one more chile arbol, at least one more large serano pepper and one more teaspoon of salt.
• I have also substituted the seranos with jalepeños or habeñeros.

Steps:

• In a bowl, just cover dried chilies with boiling water and let steep until tender, at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours. Drain off and reserve soaking water. Purée chilies in a blender, adding soaking water as needed to make a smooth paste. Strain to remove skin bits and set aside.
• In a pot, combine tomatoes, garlic, 1/2 cup onion, cumin and 2 tablespoons of guajillo purée. (Remainder can be refrigerated up to 1 week.) Add 1/2 cup water, bring to a simmer, and simmer until tomatoes collapse, about 10 minutes. Purée in a blender, then pour into a skillet.
• Bring to a simmer and stir in remaining 1/4 cup chopped onion, diced poblano chili and salt to taste.

Steps:

• Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until very smooth, it should be fairly thin.
• Heat 2 TB oil in a large skillet(no teflon) over high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Add the contents of the blender to the skillet and "fry" the sauce, stirring constantly, and scraping the bottom of the skillet to keep from sticking. Be careful, it makes a mess in the kitchen, but it is well worth it, be sure to wear your apron! Fry the sauce for 10-15 minutes, until it is reduced and the flavors have blended well. Keep warm and use immediately, or store it in the fridge for 2 days, or in the freezer for two months. If using frozen, allow to thaw first and reblend quickly as it tends to separate.
• * Cut the tomatoes in half and grate them with your cheese grater right down to the skin. This retains the pulp, and not the skin, without having to boil them. Discard skins. You can used canned tomatoes too if you don't have time.
• * Use chipotles for a nice smoky flavor.
• * Amount of chiles given makes a picante dish. Omit if you don't like it spicy, but I recommend at least one to give it some flair.