My wife, obviously delirious from toddle-induced insomnia, decided to challenge me to a salsa competition this morning. It is Labor Day and we had a cook-out to go to later in the day, so we knew we would have some impartial judges available in the afternoon. I can't pass up a good challenge, so I had my flip flops on and was out the door to the vegetable stand before she was done with her coffee. It's on!
My wife makes a delicious fresh salsa, so I knew I couldn't compete unless I came with something a little different. Being the grilling fanatic that I am, I decided to smoke my ingredients on the grill. It's 199 degrees outside, so why not stand around a hot grill? I must be crazy. Anyway, I have roasted tomatoes in the oven before and made great tomato sauce, but this is the first time I have attempted to roast tomatoes on the grill. I decided to also rig up a little smoking setup using my
Weber vegetable basket to get some great flavor quickly from the smoke. By using two bricks, I was able to roast the tomatoes and peppers over a smoke pouch. The results were awesome and having the vegetables directly over the smoke really allowed me to get some great flavor in a relatively short amount of time (in smoking terms). Here's a photo of the setup, it's not pretty, but it works:
Just a little warning before I get started with the "how". This salsa is a little spicy. Feel free to cut back on the peppers if you prefer a more mild salsa. Sugar can always be used to cut the heat a little, just be sure to counter-balance with a little salt if it starts to get too sweet.