Roasted Vegetable Salsa

After how many years of this blog, you probably know I can't leave well enough alone. A good thing can always be better right? So I got to messing with my salsa the other day. Now I've toyed with roasted salsas here and there through the years, but this time we just really loved it. Maybe it was the day. Maybe its the heat. Maybe its the amount of exercise we've been doing. But we really did like this roasted salsa. It really isn't anything special--I just mixed the same ingredients I usually do for my kicked up a notch salsa but I started with the roasting instead of stovetop cooking (FYI, I never measure salsa ingredients so these are my best approximations on all salsa recipes--adjust to taste!).

I'd highly recommend giving this a try. Its just got that little extra something.

Roasted Vegetable Salsa

3-4 tomatoes, halved

1 small onion, halved

1 green bell pepper, halved and deseeded

2 cloves minced garlic

2 Tbs lemon juice

1-2 Tbs chopped cilantro

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp black pepper

salt to taste (start with about 1/4 tsp or so)

1/4-1/2 cup tomato paste 

green chilies, fresh or pickled jalapeno, or other form of pepper for kick

Preheat oven to 400F (205C). Line a baking sheet with foil. Place tomatoes, onion, pepper, and garlic on the foil (if using fresh hot peppers put them in too!). Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes--until the vegetables are softened and have some dark spots on them. 

You can take the loosened skins off your tomatoes after they roast if you like. Place roasted veggies in a blender with cilantro, lemon, spices and the bit of tomato paste (which is totally optional). Chill, serve, enjoy!