Roasted Tomato Salsa

Derf's Note:

Can't beat salsa made from freshly harvested vine ripened tomatoes. Roasting results in a rich full falavoured sweet sauce. The chillies are mild and go well with the richness of the roasted tomatoes. evolved from Mexican, healthy ways with a favourite cuisine. (chill time 1 hour)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 ¼ lbs fresh vine ripened tomatoes
• 8 small shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• sea salt
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2 costeno amarillo chilies
• ½ small lemon , grated rind and juice of
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon soft dark brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325f degrees.
2. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and place them on a baking tray.
3. Peel the shallots and garlic and add them to the roasting pan.
4. Sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Roast in the oven for 1 1/4 hours or until the tomatoes are beginning to dry.
6. Do not let them burn or blacken or they will have a bitter taste.
7. Leave the tomatoes to cool, then peel off the skins and chop the flesh finely.
8. Place in a bowl.
9. Remove the outer layer of skin from any shallots that have toughened.
10. Using a large, sharp knife, chop the shallots and garlic roughly, place them with the tomatoes in a bowl and mix.
11. Strip the rosemary leaves from the woody stem and chop them finely.
12. Add half to the tomato and shallot mixture and mix lightly.
13. Soak the chillies in hot water for about 10 minutes until soft; drain.
14. Remove the stalks, slit them and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife.
15. Chop the flesh finely and add it to the tomato mixture.
16. Stir in the lemon rind and juice, the olive oil and the sugar.
17. Mix well, taste and add more salt if needed.
18. Cover and chill for a least an hour before serving, sprinkled with the remaining rosemary.
19. It will keep up to a week in the fridge.
20. Note: Use plum tomatoes or vine ripened tomatoes, which have more flavour that tomatoes that have been grown for their keeping properties rather than their flavour.
21. Cherry tomatoes make delicious roast tomato salsa and there is no need to peel them after roasting.

Reviews

[CountryLady]

Don't let the number of steps fool you - its not complicated! I used Juliette tomatoes from our garden which are in between a cherry & a roma - the skin peeled off very easily after roasting. Aside from using jalapeno peppers (also from our garden), I followed the directions. I served the salsa with Tostitos Scoops ...... prefer room temperature over chilled. Thanx Derf!