Blackened Salsa

Name: Blackened Salsa
Yield: makes 3/4 to 1 cup
Ingredients: 1 jalapeño chile, stemmed and left whole; 2 medium shallot lobes, peeled but left whole; 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled; 1 pint cherry tomatoes, stems removed; 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar; 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt, plus more as needed; 1/4 cup water, plus more as needed

December 14, 2011

My friend Karin and I moved to Boston at about the same time, and of all the things this fellow Tex-pat and I missed the most, at the top of the list was the spicy, smoky, black-flecked salsa at La Fogata restaurant in San Antonio, where Karin grew up and where we both loved to visit when we were in college in nearby Austin. In those days, La Fogata would sell you the stuff to go, but only if you brought your own container. Karin would fly back to Boston with a gallon jug in her carry-on, something that wouldn’t go over too well with the TSA anymore. Nowadays, you can order the salsa online, but it’s not quite the same, no doubt due to the preservatives required to make it shelf stable. After I saw a take on the recipe at SpiceLines.com, I started experimenting and developed my own. In addition to gracing the top of Tacos de Huevos (page 87) and going into Spicy Glazed Mini Meatloaf (page 65), the pungent, garlicky condiment is good on grilled pork chops or steak. Of course, it can be served as an appetizer with tortilla chips. The recipe doubles and triples easily.

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