Blistered Tomato Salsa Asada (Smoky Molcajete-Style)

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A dry-skillet salsa built the taquería way: whole romas, unpeeled garlic and serranos blistered black on a screaming-hot cast iron pan, then crushed rather than pureed so it stays rustic and spoonable. No oil, no water, no canned tomato — just concentrated smoke, sweetness and a squeeze of lime. It clings to a chip, pools around carne asada, and tastes better on day two.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb Roma tomatoes (6 to 7), whole
• 1/2 medium white onion, cut into 2 thick slabs
• 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 serrano chiles, stems on
• 2 dried chiles de árbol (optional, for smoke and heat)

• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/3 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp sugar (only if the tomatoes are underripe)

Instructions

1. Set a large cast iron skillet or comal over medium-high heat and let it preheat dry for 5 full minutes, until a drop of water skitters and vanishes instantly. Do not add oil — the salsa gets its flavor from direct contact with hot metal, and oil will just smoke and turn bitter. Turn on your range hood or crack a window.
2. Wipe the tomatoes dry and lay them in the pan along with the onion slabs, unpeeled garlic cloves and serranos. Leave everything undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes, until the undersides are blackened in patches, then turn with tongs. Keep rotating so each item chars on all sides: garlic needs about 8 minutes total (skins papery and scorched, cloves soft), serranos 8 to 10 minutes, onion 10 minutes, tomatoes 14 to 18 minutes. Pull each item to a plate as it finishes.
3. The tomatoes are done when the skins are split, mottled black, and the flesh has slumped and started to weep juice. Catch any juices on the plate — that liquid is the body of the salsa, so don't pour it off.
4. If using chiles de árbol, toast them in the hot dry pan for 20 to 30 seconds per side, pressing lightly with tongs, until they smell nutty and darken a shade. Pull them immediately; they scorch in seconds. Snap off the stems and crumble the chiles, seeds and all, into your mortar or food processor.
5. Peel the garlic cloves and discard the skins. Leave the tomato skins on — the blackened bits are the point. Stem the serranos. For less heat, slit them and scrape out some seeds and ribs.
6. Molcajete or mortar method (best texture): pound the garlic, serranos, árbol chiles and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a rough paste. Add the onion and mash to shreds, then work in the tomatoes a half at a time, crushing rather than grinding, until you have a loose, chunky sauce. Food processor method: add garlic, serranos, árbol and onion and pulse 5 or 6 times, then add the tomatoes with their juices and pulse just 3 or 4 more times — 1-second pulses only. Stop while you can still see distinct flecks of skin; a smooth puree will taste flat and foamy.
7. Scrape into a bowl and stir in the remaining salt, the lime juice and the cilantro. Taste: if the tomatoes were pale or out of season, add the sugar to round it out. Add salt in 1/4 teaspoon increments until the smoke reads clearly instead of hiding.
8. Let the salsa rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving so the charred flavors bloom. Serve at room temperature or barely warm with chips, tacos, eggs or grilled steak. Refrigerate up to 5 days in a sealed jar; the flavor deepens overnight, so bring it back to room temperature and re-stir before serving.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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