I bought some really nice, fresh tomatoes at the Farmers Market in Torrance,
CA Saturday, and I thought salsa... I made a Salsa Fresca on Sunday morning
to go with the free-range eggs from the market cooked as a plain omelet.
Later in the day, I wanted to make another salsa. One of my favorite salsas
is Salsa Ranchero made with roasted ingredients. I came up with this recipe
which got rave reviews at the office today. People insisted I write the
recipe.

This salsa has a lot of flavor -- You get a initial tingle of hotness
mixed with good smokey flavor. About 20 seconds later, the "after-burner"
of the habanero kicks it.


Habanero Salsa Ranchero

3 fresh ripe tomatoes
1 large jalapeno chiles
3 habanero chiles
2 large cloves garlic, skin removed
1/2 carrot, sliced in thin strips (I used a vegetable peeler to make the
strips)
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 large lemon, juiced, or more to taste
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
a little peanut oil, maybe a teaspoon

Preheat the oven to broil.

I used a square baking dish lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
Put the whole tomatoes, the jalapeno chile, 2 of the habanero chiles, and
the garlic cloves in the baking dish. Broil until the skin on the vegetables
begins to blacken. Turn the vegetables over to roast the other side. When
roasted, remove from oven and carefully add to a blender or food processor.
Be sure to drain the juices in the pan into the blender or food processor!
Add the strips of fresh carrot. Pulse a few times to chop well -- Don't puree
it! You just want to chop it medium-fine.

In a non-stick skillet add a little peanut oil over high heat. Add the
chopped onion when the oil is hot, and saute until the onion is cooked
not too crunchy, but not too soft. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.

Add the sauted onions to the tomato mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.
Be careful! The mixture is still warm. For about 10 minutes, I stir and
turn the contents of the mixture to help it cool.

I think roasting the chiles makes them lose the fresh "bite". So, finely
mince the remaining habanero chile and add it to the mixture. Stir well,
and cool.

For a "few more" salsa recipes:

http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/...ents.cgi?salsa

--
Clay Irving >

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