Grilled Salsa

It’s still summer and there’s lots of good stuff to pick up at farmstands. So Mary Kate and I got the bright idea to buy a bunch of vegetables and experiment with grilling them this weekend. Although we spent a marathon day grilling, one of the things we wanted to share with you all, was the grilled vegetable salsa we put together.  If you don’t want to do this on the grill, I have also made this salsa by roasting the vegetables in the oven and in my rotisserie.

Grilled Salsa 

• 1 red bell pepper, cut into quarters and seeded
• 1 jalapeno, cut into halves and seeded
• 1 bulb of garlic, with top cut off and with most of the outer layer peels removed
• 2-3 tomatoes, cut into quarters and seeded (if you wish reserve the juice and the seeds to mix in with the salsa at the end.)
• 2 small onions, cut in slices (so they form rings about 1/2 inch thick)
• 3 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of Cholula Chili lime hot sauce, or to taste
  
• 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of adobo seasoning, or to taste
• olive oil

To prepare on the grill:

Do what you would normally do with your grill to bring it to cooking temperature, light the charcoal, light the propane, or start the fire, depending on what you have for tools and equipment. If you do have a grilling basket, feel free to use it if it will make things easier on you.

Once your grill is hot, place garlic, cut end up, on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap around the garlic and seal it shut.  Drizzle garlic bulb with olive oil, and wrap foil around bulb.

Place on indirect heat out of the way so that it can cook slowly while you grill the other vegetables.  You want the garlic to be fork tender and easily mash-able.

Place other vegetables on the grill to cook. It might be best to place the onions and jalapeno in the grill basket to cook.  This will take several minutes and you will want to watch the vegetables carefully.  You may not want your vegetables quite as charred as our red bell pepper got (whoops!).

The vegetables will also cook at different rates.  Once each vegetable becomes tender, or is cooked the way you like it, take it off the grill and place them on a plate or a bowl until all the vegetables are done, checking the garlic last.

Chop the red bell pepper, onions, tomatoes, and jalapeno finely and place in a bowl (with juice and tomato seeds if you reserved them.)

Add 3 to 4 cloves (or more if you like) of the roasted garlic and mash it in with chopped vegetables. (You can freeze the remainder of the roasted garlic if you wish for use at another time, such as mashing it into potatoes or as a spread.)

Add the red wine vinegar, the Cholula Chili lime hot sauce, cilantro, and adobo seasoning.  You may also add a splash of olive oil if you wish.  Mix well, or if you like your salsa to be more saucy, use a stick blender or a regular blender to process it a bit.  Enjoy!