GrillinFools
In this fire roasted tomato salsa recipe we crank up a hot charcoal fire and roast up Roma tomatoes, white onion, a fat poblano chili pepper, some jalapeño peppers and then combine everything in a blender with some fresh cilantro and salt. Once the salsa is blended, we pour it into a bowl and top with some fire roasted corn and a little more of that cilantro as a garnish. And we switched things up and served these with chicharrones (those are pork rinds for my esteemed, redneck brethren) for some EPIC crunch. If you are going the vegetarian route, keep with the corn tortilla chips.
I realize that this is a vegetarian recipe, and while that’s not really our thing, we have no problem if it’s yours. That being said, I decided to switch it up and instead of the typical tortilla chip, I went with pork rinds! Chicharrones, if you will.
Pork rinds and salsa needs to be a thing! Seriously.
Also, this seems like a lot of work for salsa that has 50 varieties at the grocery store. Yes, there are lots of salsas filled with preservatives at the grocery store. This is just so fresh and amazing that it smokes pretty much any store bought salsa. Also, it took about 20 minutes total to make this. Soooooo worth it.
And if you have gotten this far, I have some similar recipes that you will enjoy thoroughly:
- Smoked Sausage Stuffed Poblanos
- Chorizo Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Smoked Beef Cheek Tacos
- Smoked Tri Tip Sandwich with Chimichurri
So, let’s get back to the recipe at hand
Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe Ingredients
- 1 white onion, quartered with root intact
- 4 ripe roma tomatoes, halved
- 1 poblano pepper
- 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 jalapeño peppers, halved, stems and white flesh removed
- 1 ear of corn
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (substitute flat leaf parsley)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- A bag of chicharrones or pork rinds
Necessary Equipment:
- You have to have a blender or food processor of some sort
How to Make this Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe
Spark up a medium hot fire with hot coals on one side and a cool side on the other. Quarter the onions, leaving the root intact to hold them together, and roast them over the hot side. Roast the jalapeño peppers and poblano, blistering the skins. Then bisect the romas and char on both sides. Roast the corn all the way around along with 4 cloves of garlic. Remove the skin from the poblano and drop everything along with the cilantro (excluding the corn) into a blender and pulse till smooth. Pour into a bowl and garnish with roasted corn kernels on top to be mixed in before eating.
Fire Management
We did this over charcoal, although this could be done over gas as well. The biggest key here is that there needs to be a hot and cool zone – two zone grilling, if you will. Thus, for a charcoal grill, light a fire of medium hot coals on one side and no direct heat on the other. Therefore, on a gas grill, turn on the burner on one side to between halfway and three quarters. Leave the other burners off. Roast the vegetables around the edges of the direct heat to slowly get that glorious char while softening up the ingredients.
More on fire management in a minute.
While the grill heats up
Prep the Ingredients:
Cut the jalapeños in half, removing the white flesh and then the seeds if you are heat averse.
This can be done by simply running the thumb along the inside of the bisected chili peppers:
We removed the white flesh and seeds which resulted in a pretty sweet salsa despite having almost 4 whole jalapeños blended into it.
Carve the tomatoes in half as well:
Shuck the corn and get most of the silks, but if there are a few stragglers, no big deal.
Indeed, they will just burn off as we make the fire roasted corn:
Quarter the white onion, leaving the root in place to hold the onion together as it roasts
Roast the Ingredients
Place the onions around the fire:
Yes, around the fire. I built the fire in the middle and had my cool zone(s) on either side:
The onions go on first because they take the longest to cook.
The grill I’m using here is the Everdure Hub II which is this sweet charcoal cooker, with an auto start feature as well as a rotisserie.
Remember, when I said leave the root/center of the onion after quartering?
Without the core, the onion will start flake apart as it cooks and softens.
We are looking to char the onions on the two flat sides, plus the curved outside.
When one side looks like this, rotate it to one of the other sides:
After the onions have charred on a couple sides, add the garlic cloves, peppers and corn:
Char the peppers and garlic.
The poblano needs to look like this all the way around:
And the garlic just needs to have some char and soften a bit:
And while we have 2-4 garlic cloves in the recipe list, I can almost guarantee that you one will slip through the grates and leave only 3.
The jalapeños should look similar to this:
As the Ingredients cook through, move them to the cool zone(s)
Move veggies away from the fire as they get the char we are looking for and add the tomatoes, flat side down:
Keep rotating the corn as it browns and don’t be surprised if you hear more than one kernel actually pop.
Once the tomatoes get a little char on the flat side, then flip them over carefully as they are going to be somewhat, gooey at this point:
Keep rotating the ears of corn as it chars a little. Once it chars all the way around, you have fire roasted corn.
When the tomatoes char on the skin side (like below), which takes a lot less time than the flat, wet side, they can be pulled to the cool side as well:
When the poblano is charred all the way around, drop it straight into a resealable plastic bag. It will make it easier to get the skin off.
Grab the blender or food processor and get ready to finish this dish.
Remove everything from the heat so nothing burns and let’s get to completing our fire roasted tomato salsa recipe.
Time to Finish the Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe
Chop off any stems from the chili peppers and then drop all the roasted ingredients into the blender except the corn and the poblano:
Take the poblano out of the plastic bag and either scrape the skin off with the edge of the knife, or with paper towels (we did the latter):
Then rough chop the poblano:
Add the poblano and rough chopped cilantro (or substitute flat leaf parsley)
Finally, add the salt (not pictured)
Then put the lid on that plastic vessel of amazingly fresh flavor:
Pulse the ingredients a few times, and this should not take long, until blended through:
Notice how that full container is now right about half full. Adjust your ingredients accordingly:
Pour the finished fire roasted tomato salsa recipe into a serving bowl:
Thick and meaty!
Then carve off some of that fire roasted corn and garnish it (along with small bunch of the cilantro or flat leaf parsley)
You can also mix in the fire roasted corn into the salsa if you wish.
I was going for the color contrast as a garnish plus the flavor.
I added a little hot sauce as this salsa is on the sweeter side and I like a little bite.
Also, don’t forget those chicharrones:
I also went with pork rinds rather than tortillas and I have to say, chicharrones are the way to go!
Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe Recap:
I would definitely leave in the white flesh and seeds of the jalapeño peppers as this was a really sweet salsa. My camera guy and my wife loved it, but I like a little more kick. Also the pork rinds or chicharrones really took it to another level. Which is saying something because there is nothing like fresh roasted salsa. Where everything used was connected to a plant in the last couple days. I highly recommend this. Although I have one warning. Store bought salsa is not going to be nearly as good anymore.
If you have any questions or comments about this Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe or want to tell me your favorite chicharrones or pork rinds, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
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Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe Card:
Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Blender or Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 White onion
- 4 Roma tomatoes, ripe
- 1 Poblano pepper
- 2-4 cloves Garlic, peeled
- 4 Jalapeño peppers
- 1 ear Fresh corn
- ¼ cup Fresh cilantro Substitute flat leaf parsley
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with a medium high heat on one side and a cool zone on the other
- While the grill comes up to temp, slice the jalapeños in half. If you want a milder salsa, remove the white flesh and seeds. If you like is spicy, leave those.
- Shuck the corn, slice the Roma tomatoes in half, lengthwise, peel the garlic cloves, and quarter the onion, leaving the root intact.
- When one side of the grill is hot, place the onions around the edge of the heat. Char the two flat sides and the rounded side and slide to the side with no direct heat.
- Then place the corn on the grill, at the edge of the heat as well as the peppers and garlic cloves. Rotate the vegetables and peppers as they char on the outside. Once they are charred all the way around, slide over to the cool side, except for the poblano. Place the poblano in a resealable plastic bag to make removing the skin easier
- Place the tomatoes, flat side down over the heat and wait for them to char. Once the flat side is charred, flip over and char the skin side of the tomatoes.
- While the tomatoes are charring, chop the cilantro (or flat leaf parsley) and remove the skin from the poblano. Then rough chop the poblano. Also, remove any stems from the jalapeños
- Once the tomatoes are charred on both sides, drop them in a blender along with the onion, garlic cloves, jalapeños, chopped cilantro, and poblano.
- Slice the roasted corn kernels off the hear and set aside.
- Pulse the salsa ingredients until blended through. Pour into a serving bowl and top with the roasted corn for garnish and then mix the corn into the salsa after the dish has been presented. A bunch of the cilantro or parsley makes a wonderful garnish
- Serve with chicharrones or pork rinds
Video
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