Hot - Sweet

Mama Mia

At the local Mexican Grocery store a great Salsa Roja is available for purchase. However, while this is really tasty it is very very watery and is not really a sauce.

So the base of this sauce is Roma Tomatoes and this first attempt is very spicy and more pasta-oriented in flavor. Subsequent recipes will be adjusted of this first attempt to get it closer to the original salsa taste.

Sauce

Ingredients

1 lime
1 pound of red Roma Tomatoes
1/2 pound of Beef Steak or plump tomato
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 Habanero Chiles
1 onion
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon dried Arbol Chilies
8 sprigs of cilntro
Salt to taste

Roasting the Base

Remove all stems from the tomatoes and chilies. Also, remove the peel from the onion. If you uses 1 bulb of garlic, peel the garlic as well and use only 3 or 4 cloves
Put tomatoes, chiles, and garlic in a bowl, sprinkle in Olive Oil (and some salt to taste). Toss and liberally coat all items.
Then roast the ingredients on a parchment-lined tray for 15-20 minutes at 355ºF/180ºC, until soft.
Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool until you can handle them.

Putting Together

Remove the tomatoes, chiles, and garlic from the roasting pan and place in a blender
Add the remaining ingredients to the blender
Blend on high until most of the pulp has been processed
Transfer to a sieve and with a spatula, separate the sauce from the pulp
Take the pulp and dehydrate for additional spice