Roasted Rocoto Pepper and Tomato Salsa

My Dad has been growing these little peppers in our backyard for a while now. Rocoto peppers look like miniature bell peppers, but they’re actually quite hot. They originate in Peru and Bolivia. There are so many of them, we wanted to put some to use. They worked perfectly in this roasted salsa. Add another pepper if you want it to be even more ass-kickin’.

2 Rocoto peppers
3 vine ripened tomatoes, halved
5 small cloves of garlic, unpeeled
Olive oil, a few tablespoons
1/2 a white onion, diced
a large handful of cilantro
1 small lime
cumin, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet, arrange the tomato halves, garlic cloves, and rocoto peppers. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 50 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves and peppers and continue roasting the tomatoes for another 10-15 minutes.

• When cool, peel the garlic cloves and remove the stems from the rocoto peppers. Place in a food processor.

• Gently peel the skin off the roasted tomatoes and add to the food processor with the garlic and peppers. Process for about 5 seconds.

• Add the onion, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Process until consistency is smooth.

• Eat immediately with chips or as a taco sauce, or cover and refrigerate for later.