The terrace restaurant of the Gran Ciudad De Mexico Hotel in Mexico City has a spectacular view of the city's historic main square, or Zócalo, which is reason enough to book a table. But with a menu of flame grilled meat, vibrant salads, bowls of guacamole, blue corn tortillas and a variety of salsas, it's the perfect spot to enjoy a long and leisurely lunch - and the accompanying supersize margaritas will help you to forget the time anyway.
Considered the cornerstone of Mexican kitchens, salsa comes in many delicious guises and to add to the traditional charm of the restaurant, a chef visits each table in turn with a trolley piled high with chillies of every type - some dried, some charred, and almost all lethal looking - to make fresh salsa to our individual requirements. Salsa Roja (red sauce) where roasted tomatoes are pounded with chillies, onions and garlic in a molcajete with a tejolote (mortar and pestle made from black volcanic rock) makes a spicy paste perfect for anointing steak or chicken with its piquancy and heat.
Back home and in need of a big dose of Mexican heat, I contacted the Gran Ciudad De Mexico Hotel to ask if they would give me their definitive recipe for Salsa Roja and Executive Chef, Jorge De Miranda happily obliged, replying "It’s such an honour to share the recipe with you...I hope you enjoy this salsa”
Gracias Jorge, I did.
The below makes a small but punchy amount of salsa - for a larger quantity, simply scale up the ingredients in proportion.
Ingredients
1/2 tbsp of slightly charred onion
1/4 tsp roasted garlic
1 roasted tomato
1 Serrano chilli (or other fresh or dried chilli of your choice depending on how hot you want the sauce)
20ml water
Salt to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Place half an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 large tomato, and 1 serrano chilli (if using) in a roasting dish and place in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the onion is beginning to char, and the tomato, chilli and garlic are soft.
Mix the chilli and water in a blender* and blend lightly.
Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for a few seconds until you have a chunky sauce.
Add salt to taste.
*or a pestle and mortar if you fancy a workout.
Use it to spice up your life (or your steak)