yellow habanero salsa

Ingredients

• 6 yellow habanero (red ones work too)
• 2 large yellow heirloom tomatoes (it’s just a theme- red tomatoes work too), or pint of tiny tomatoes
• 1 small white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8-10 sprigs of cilantro
• salt (to flavor)

Hardware

• cookie sheet or 9” by 13” casserole dish
• parchment paper or aluminum foil as a liner
• blender or food processor
• food prep gloves¹

Instructions

1. Place top oven rack on middle notch and preheat to 450F.
2. Prepare vegetables:
   1. Tomatoes: remove stems and slice into quarters (leave whole if using tiny tomatoes)
   2. Habaneros: no processing needed yet
   3. Onion: peel and slice roughly
   4. Garlic: peel and leave whole
   5. Cilantro: remove leaves from stems, dice roughly and set off to the side. These do not go into the oven.
3. Place all vegetables except cilantro onto lined baking sheet or casserole dish.
4. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven.
6. Don food gloves and remove stems from habaneros by hand. Place into food processor.
7. Put in garlic and white onion.
8. Place tomatoes in last. They are the densest of all the ingredients and minimize chance that habanero splashes up away from cutting blades.
9. Pulse 2-3 times for 5 seconds each.
10. Place in cilantro, salt and pulse 2-3 more times.
11. Adjust salt to flavor, pulsing each time to disperse evenly.
12. Serve immediately or within a week with refrigeration.

Footnotes

1. Habanero oils are not all that easy to wash off and some will stick around even after using soap. At 100,000 - 350,000 on the Scoville scale, they are 12-100 times hotter than jalapeños. It’s best for your eyes and nether regions to handle them carefully. Use disposable gloves. ↩