Just reading the ingredients doesn’t give you the picture. This is not chicken with tomato sauce. Not even close. It’s big Mexican flavours. But deep, earthy tastes. A wonderfully unexpected result.
It’s about the salsa
Roasted tomato salsa is made from almost exactly the same ingredient list as pico de gallo. But the result is completely different. Dark and sumptuous. Complex. Super savoury. Not at all like the bright, vibrant pico flavours. Isn’t cooking amazing? Roasted tomato salsa recipes are all over the internet. I think I counted about 7 million. The world does not need another version. This is not another roasted tomato salsa recipe. I did it only to show you how you can use it to make something special.
Technique brings this chicken with roasted tomato salsa home
Classic technique is what brings this all together. Makes it more than just chicken with salsa. The secret is deglazing the pan with the salsa. Pouring the salsa into the pan and scraping up all the goodness in the bottom. It’s also about cooking the salsa in a bit of chicken fat. Something about that step is pure magic. When you deglaze your roasting pan with it, it picks up the flavours of the chicken. It suddenly goes from salsa to sauce. Really, really good sauce. This may not be intuitive but it works. And it works well.
Try Mexican chicken with roasted tomato salsa served on a smear of puree of jalapeño flavoured pinto beans.Or black beans with cumin and lime. Surrounded by a generous drizzle of sauce. Garnished with a bit of cilantro. Or a bit of pico or prickly pear salsa. Like I said – dinner party territory.
