Spicy tomato and pepper salsa recipe

I get asked quite a lot for my recipe for my homemade salsa so here's how I make it.  I actually adapted a recipe my mother-in-law makes to make it a little more healthy so the major credit goes to her!  There's a little bit of effort required, but the result is delicious (hot or cold), goes with practically anything and lasts for a good week in the fridge.  We pretty much always have some in the fridge to add to salads, burger nights, fish dishes etc.

Ingredients

Peppers - I use a mix of sweet pointy peppers and cooking peppers and to get a good amount of salsa, I use 10 peppers with at least half of them alway being the pointy pepper variety

Tomatoes  - 6 medium

Garlic  - I use 2 tsp of frozen but if using fresh, I'd say 3 or 4 cloves

Chilli - this is according to taste, we like it quite hot so I use hot chilli powder or flakes and usually a heaped tsp worth.  Definitely add chilli according to your taste (or if you don't like chilli, you can leave it out altogether.

Spray oil

Method

1. Remove the seeds from your peppers keeping the peppers as whole as possible and place peppers and tomatoes in baking dishes and spray with your spray oil

2. Place in a preheated oven (180 / gas mark 4) until the skins of the peppers have started to blacken and the tomato skins are burst - I'd say around 45 mins to an hour (it seems different every time I do it but the blackening is the mark they are done.

3. Leave to cool - I try to leave for at least an hour.  

4. Once cool enough to handle, the messy bit begins.  I'd recommend using a chopping board with a lip or a plate for the first section as a lot of juice comes out and you want to keep this to use in your salsa.

You need to peel the skins off the tomatoes and the peppers (top tip - green pepper skins hardly every seem to come off, red are the easiest followed by yellow and orange!)

5. Discard the skins, make sure you keep the juice and then using a knife or a chopper (I use a double handed herb chopper) you need to chop the tomatoes and the peppers into very small pieces

6. Pour the juices into a large saucepan, add the garlic and the chilli and allow to simmer for a minute before carefully adding the finely chopped peppers and tomatoes.

7. Simmer on the lowest heat until it starts to thicken, stirring often as it can start to stick if you aren't careful.  This takes between 30 and 45 minutes but varies depending on the juiciness of the tomatoes usually.

And that's it!

Serve hot immediately or allow to cool before putting in a suitable storage container and keeping in the fridge.  My hubby prefers it warm, I prefer it cold!

Hope you enjoy!

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