I love Mexican cuisine and all of its American variations: Tex-Mex, New Mexican, Rancho, etc. I can't resist the bold flavors that fresh ingredients bring into these dishes, the a mix of hearty meats and cheeses with all kinds of sauces and vegetables.

In certain ways the abundance of flavors, textures and spices remind me of Eastern European cooking. In Romania we have a spread called zacusca which has a bunch of variations in the Balkans like ajvar, ljutenica or pindjur. All of them are vegetable-based with ingredients like onions, peppers and tomatoes, and sometimes aubergines, mushrooms and beans. If you think about Mexican salsas, they are not that different ingredients-wise. One thing that's not common between the two is that the salsas are served fresh, whereas the relishes/spreads in the Eastern European cuisine are preserved.

What blows my mind is that, even though the two cultures are so different and the two regions are so far away from each other, there are still similarities when it comes to flavors and ingredients.

I find salsa to be one of the most important ingredients in Mexican food. A good salsa has the ability to make a decent dish amazing. It's the ingredient that will take your taco or burrito game to the next level. What's amazing about them is how easily they can be made. If you read my previous blog post, I shared my Blackened Fish Taco recipe. That taco is marvelous as is, but if you add a spoon of this salsa or my other favorite, the TacoDeli-inspired Doña salsa (recipe to come), I guarantee that your tasting taste buds will have an orgasm.

This salsa recipe is my take on a traditional charred vegetable salsa. I've tried several other combinations and this is the best I could come up with. I added a little twist by grilling the lime and adding a bit of cumin, but the main ingredients are the traditional onions, peppers and tomatoes.

My version is on the milder side of the spectrum. I use poblano and jalapeño peppers instead of serranos and I usually remove the seeds and most of the white membrane that holds the seeds (placental tissue). That's not because I don’t like heat, but because it’s a good balance to my more fiery salsa mentioned above. You can use it for your tacos, burritos, on your breakfast eggs or as a dip with warm corn tortilla chips. No matter how you eat it, this salsa is going to make your food taste better.

Enjoy!

Roasted vegetable salsa

Yields 2-3 cups
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes, halved
1 large red onion, halved
1/2 medium yellow onion, halved
2 poblano peppers, halved and deseeded
1 jalapeño, halved and deseeded
1 bulb garlic, halved
1 lime, halved
2 tsp olive oil, drizzled
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced (about 1-2 TBS fresh lime juice)
1/2 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
salt, to taste

Instructions

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. If you're using your oven pre-heat it to 425F (220C) degrees.
Place the tomatoes, onions, poblano and jalapeño peppers, garlic and lime halves in a medium bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. The amount of salt shouldn't matter at this point so don't sweat too much over it.
Transfer the vegetables to the grill. If you're roasting them in the oven, transfer them to a baking tray that's lined with aluminum foil.
Grill until the veggies are blistered and charred, about 10-15 minutes, turning them occasionally.
Remove the vegetables from the grill. Start with the tomatoes as they cook faster. If you're broiling them in the oven, jut take the tray out and let them cool for a bit.
Once the veggies are cooled down, press the garlic out of its shell, remove the skins of the tomatoes and peppers, clean the peel off the onions and gently squeeze the charred limes into the food processor. Make sure that only the juice gets out of the lime because the pulp and the white membrane is going to make your salsa bitter.
Transfer the vegetables and juices to a food processor, add the cilantro and pulse until you reach your preferred level of chunkiness. Add the lime juice, cumin, black pepper and salt to taste and pulse one more time to mix in the spices.
Transfer to a mason jar and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. If properly cooled, it will stays good for about 10 days.