Salsa Mexicana Fresh Tomato And Chiles Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat broiler.
• Oil a 13- by 9-inch roasting pan (not glass). Halve tomatoes lengthwise, then arrange, cut sides up, in roasting pan. Sprinkle onion over and around tomatoes and broil 4 to 5 inches from heat until tomatoes and onion begin to brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer tomatoes, onion, and any juices in pan to a food processor and add chipotles with sauce, jalapeño, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Pulse until vegetables are finely chopped.
• Transfer to a bowl and stir in cilantro. Season with salt.

Steps:

• Line a heavy cast iron grill pan or griddle with aluminum foil and place over high heat. Arrange tomatillos, chiles de arbol, and garlic in a single layer on top. Grill until chiles are blackened, turning as necessary, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Continue grilling tomatillos and garlic until they are evenly blackened, 8 to 10 minutes more.
• Peel garlic and place in a mortar and pestle. Season with salt and pound into a thick paste. Add chiles; pound until smooth. Add as many tomatillos as you can fit in your mortar; pound until chunky. Transfer salsa to a bowl. Repeat with remaining tomatillos, mixing them into the bowl of salsa in batches.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Serve with chips.

Steps:

• Seed and dice 10 tomato halves; transfer to large bowl. Place remaining tomatoes in blender; add onion, lime juice, chiles, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. Add cilantro. Pulse just to mix in cilantro. Pour tomato puree into bowl with diced tomatoes. Stir to blend. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Steps:

• Core the tomatoes, then cut in half widthwise and squeeze out the seeds if you wish (it will give the sauce a less rustic appearance). Finely dice the flesh by slicing it into roughly 1/4-inch thick pieces, then cutting each slice into small dice. Scoop into a bowl.
• Cut the chiles in half lengthwise (wear rubber gloves if your hands are sensitive to the piquancy of the chiles) and scrape out the seeds if you wish (not only will this make the salsa seem less rustic, but it will make it a little less picante). Chop the chiles as finely as you can, then add them to the tomatoes. Carefully bunch up the cilantro sprigs, and, with a sharp knife, slice them 1/16-inch thick, stems and all, working your way down from the leafy end until you run out of leaves. Scoop the chopped cilantro into the tomato mixture along with the optional garlic. Next, finely dice the onion with a knife (a food processor will turn it into a sour mess), scoop it into a small strainer, then rinse it under cold water. Shake to remove the excess water and add to the tomato mixture. Taste and season with lime juice and salt, and let stand if you have a little time, for the flavors to meld before using or scooping into a salsa dish and serving.