Combining spice and smoke for the perfect at home salsa to devour with friends and family!
Here's the thing, up until very recently I have not been a fan of salsa. In fact, I am often criticized for my lack of condiments. I don't use ketchup or mustard or mayo. I never put dressing on a salad. My stance on condiments is firmly if they don't elevate the flavor, they aren't worth it for me. However, I will forever love barbeque sauce and teriyaki sauce.
My distaste for salsa goes back pretty far. My family is huge on Mexican food (good Mexican food) and we had a restaurant back in California that we would go to on a weekly basis; every birthday ended up there, every graduation we would go there, after a swim meet we would go there, meeting up with the grandparents we would go there. (Unfortunately they closed down several years ago, we will forever miss you Kristina's.) Our consistent presence at this local restaurant led to a commitment to the bit of waitresses giving my brother a bigger bowl of salsa to prevent having to refill it so often. Though I didn't like salsa, I didn't want to feel left out and would dip my tortilla chips into my water glass. The flavor was unchanged but little seven-year-old me was so proud of my clever way to fit in.
Over the last few years though, my attempt at enjoying salsa has developed into a love of pico de gallo. The freshness of the ingredients, the slight spice, the crunch and added bite of texture to a dish; for me it was in all ways superior to salsa. This was my evolution from plain chips, to dipping in water, to scooping up chunks of pico. I truly thought it couldn't grow even more from here. But here we are, and I am eating, making, and writing about salsa: times sure have changed.
Have you always loved salsa?
For sure!
Just give me the chips...
A couple weeks ago, Matt and I took some friends to our favorite taco place nearby. Good food, great margaritas, and an outstanding selection of tacos: Barrio in Plymouth is a wonderful place and the location of our first date so I may be a bit biased. Featured on their seasonal menu was a chipotle salsa as well as a spicy hibiscus margarita, naturally both items were ordered. Now, in addition to our chips and the trio of salsa, queso, and guacamole, we had an option of spicy chipotle salsa as well. Feeling adventurous, when the spicy level of the chipotle salsa was mentioned, I decided to give it a try. For the first time, in all the different salsa I had tasted over the years, this added something to the chip for me. There was a flavor that I enjoyed beyond just that of the in-house-made chips.
So, I got a to go container and brought it home to my family to see if they felt the same way. Was this truly what salsa was like for so long and I was just so determined to not like it that I denied myself the joy all these years. Though it was not too similar flavor-wise to Kristina's salsa of legend, it did feel as if it was on point in consistency. Honestly that was one of the parts that won me over, there was substance to this salsa, not just liquified tomato and some seasonings. We made quick work of disappearing the remnants of salsa however and I was stuck with a dilemma, go back to Barrio and get more or hope to find a grocery store dupe.
Scouring the supermarket shelves, I found several chipotle salsas and after much debate with myself, I picked the one I felt most closely resembled the color, texture, and consistency of my new favorite salsa. Additionally, I bought a habanero salsa for Matt as he craves the spice. Quickly, I discovered that jarred salsas have some sort of preservative that, while important for shelf stability, completely overpowers all other flavors for me. There was no hint of freshness, no smoky and spicy punch, not a single ounce of enjoyment added to my chip eating experience. Here comes the problem, I can't keep going to Barrio and spending $5 for a small container of salsa (during their seasonal menu) every time I want to enjoy this flavor profile. I needed to do some research and figure out how to make it at home.
Initially, my research led to the basics of ingredients. Though often I found Copycat Chipotle Salsa for those trying to replicate what they ate at the popular Mexican Street Food chain. After purchasing roma tomatoes, onions, canned chipotles in adobo, cilantro, jalapenos, limes, and garlic, I now needed to play around with the amounts of each. This proved tougher than I anticipated. The first time around I used way too much onion, not enough jalapeno, not enough tomato, and definitely not enough chipotle. Plus, we have a very small food processor so I needed to do things in batches; the combining of separate sections was not going as I had hoped.
Taking feedback from Matt, we took some additional tomatoes and sauteed them in a pan just to bring the sweetness level up slightly. I halved the combination of everything so far and to the processor added in the rest of the can of chipotles in adobo and the now full-flavored tomatoes. A few quick pulses and we were thrilled with our salsa for burrito bowl night at home. With the leftovers in the fridge, I sent the recipe to my family and we were prepared for snacks during the NASCAR race the next day. Cut to the next day and not even 30 minutes into the race we ran out of salsa. This was upsetting for two reasons, one I was out of salsa and two I didn't take any photos or videos for this write up. There are always solutions with just a quick trip to the grocery store and a few plans to elevate what was already a great salsa.
Taking my recipe and running with it, my brother also created the salsa at home and texted me:
"That might be the best salsa I've ever had at home."
Which, if you recall in the Kristina's recollection, he was the one who needed a cereal bowl of salsa just for himself. I take his words to heart and fully appreciated the compliment. He did in fact roast the tomatoes for his salsa ahead of time and additionally roasted the jalapenos. This was the first step in my learning curve.
Roasting the tomatoes and jalapenos in a 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes really brought out not only the sweetness in the tomatoes but a very well rounded flavor in the peppers. I would 100% do this every time and I may even add some garlic cloves to roast alongside them next time.
My next advancement on the learning journey was adding just a small amount of salt at each step as opposed to a generous amount at the start. Though my salt level is still much lower than what a majority of people add, I do feel like I added enough to enhance the flavor profile.
I think the biggest step up here though was utilizing the immersion blender over the small food processor. In that first batch there were large chunks of tomato that never broke down and just nests of cilantro bundled up at the bottom. It took a while to get the produce to break down with the immersion blender, and once there was some liquid more than I would like to admit ended up on surfaces of the kitchen, but it was a smoother consistency overall and definitely the mouthfeel I was looking to attain.
We will be hosting a pre-Cinco de Mayo party this weekend and I plan to make quite a few treats that remind me of foods I grew up around in Central California. I want to celebrate and honor a culture that brings such wonderful flavors, traditions, and experiences to life. This salsa will be featured as well as tequila shots inspired by spicy mango lollipops, maybe some tres leches cake or maybe some conchas, definitely margaritas, and Matt will be smoking meats for all the tacos.
Find the salsa recipe here!
Do you feel inspired to make your own salsa??
I crave the chipotle..
I will stick with jarred salsa, thank you...
Wow, you are something. I remember all of those family trips to the California Mexican restaurant. As soon as the family entered the restaurant a big bowl of salsa for your brother appeared at the table. Keep on creating!!