As someone who is in the lifelong process of learning Spanish, I must say that there are some things about Spanish that are much easier than other languages, but there are some frustrating aspects to it as well. The fact that quite often the same thing has multiple words for it, yet others don't have a word to describe them at all is a little bit of a frustration (not to mention the fact that the same word can have vastly different meaning and use case). While sometimes there are differences between them, often chiles have different names. One case in point is the jalapeño. When it's green it's a jalapeño, when it's red, dried, and smoked, it becomes a chipotle, but it also has an AKA of morita since there is also a chipotle meco chile out there. See what I mean? Now this recipe originally called for dried morita chiles, which is how we prepared it, but since dried chipotle chiles are not easy to find everywhere, we adapted this to use canned chipotles in adobo. The end result is just as good with less margin of error and ease of access too. A win for everyone.

If this salsa packs too much heat for you, feel free to add more tomato and onion to offset the chipotles in adobo. Coring the tomatoes first ensures the salsa doesn't get bitter from the seeds. Roasting everything just adds depth from the caramelization process on the tomatoes and onions (and to a lesser extent the garlic).

As always, from our table to yours... #SpiceConfidently #EssenceOfFlavor #ChemistryInTheKitchen #CasaMSpice

— Mike Hernandez