Salsa Tequila Resposado

Last year I picked up a book of Margarita recipes in a charity shop in Balham. It has this recipe in it. I'm going to a Mexican brunch with friends on Sunday so I’ll be taking some of this.

4 medium tomatoes, halved

8 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 medium onion, peeled & quartered

6 chillies

1 small bunch coriander

2 tsp sea salt

30ml fresh lime juice

60ml resposado Tequila

Salt to taste

A good shake of tabasco

Use the chillies that best suit you. The boy isn’t coming to the brunch so I am going for the fairly small hot ones. Resposado Tequila is the kind that has been  ‘rested’ in oak barrels for 2-12 months. You’ll have to read a few labels as we don’t generally get a huge selection of tequilas in the UK. Jose Cuervo Especial is pretty easy to find though.

First make a Margarita: 35ml tequila, 25ml Cointreau or triple sec and 15ml fresh lime juice.  Serve in a salt rimmed glass. This isn't for the recipe - it;s just for you because it's nice. Keep this recipe close by in case you need another.

Heat a heavy based frying pan. I use a cast iron one – get it hot. Add the tomatoes, garlic and chillies and let the skins get charred. Push them about the pan a bit. Big black bits are what you’re looking for.

Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. Peel the tomatoes and garlic and remove the stalks from the chillies.

Place the garlic, chillies, coriander, lime juice and salt in a blender and pulse repeatedly until it’s finely chopped. You’ll need to scrape down the sides a couple of times.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the blender along with the tequila. Pulse in really short bursts so you don’t puree it – it needs just enough to break the tomatoes up. Place in a bowl – probably the same bowl you had before really.

Chop the onion very finely and stir into the salsa. Taste and adjust the salt and add the Tabasco if it needs it. Allow it to rest for an hour.

The  Margarita book was a great find – my thanks to my friend, Toby whose flat in Balham I was staying in, when I found the book. It was only £3. And I now have a nearly full bottle of tequila to experiment with. Good times! #livingtobyslife