A tale of 2 dishes

Tonight was a "sweep the kitchen" themed dinner. We had several items that needed to be used before they went bad. Among these were tomatoes, onions, mini bell peppers, & mushrooms. We decided to create two separate things.

Item #1 = fire roasted salsa, to be served at a friend's cook out later this weekend

Item #2 = Beer braised roast (via the instant pot) with rice, brown gravy, mozzarella garlic bread & a side salad.

Here's what we did for the salsa:

Ingredients:
2 Roma tomatoes
1 small package of cherry tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper, top cut off, and seeds removed
4 mini bell peppers, tops cut off
1 whole bulb of garlic, skin on
1 large white onion, peeled and cut in half
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped (about 1 cup loosely packed)
Juice of 2 limes
1 TBSP Sea Salt
1 TBSP Cumin
1 tsp  Bourbon Black Pepper
1 tsp  Chipotle Powder
olive oil


Directions:
1. I used a gas grill set on low. Place tomatoes and onion cut side down on a perforated cooking sheet, along with garlic and jalapenos. Grill 10-15 minutes, until tomatoes and onions are softened and charred (if garlic begins to burn, remove it early). Remove from grill, and let cool to handle.

drizzled olive oil over veggies

onto the grill

halfway thru the cook

fire roasted veggies

2. Roughly chop tomatoes, onion, and jalapenos, and peel garlic. Place in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Add chopped cilantro, the juice of 2 lime, sea salt, pepper, and chili (if using), and pulse until incorporated. Taste, and correct seasoning. Serve immediately, or transfer to a container, and refridgerate up to 4 days (or, you could can it and stock your pantry!) enjoy!

Now about that roast......

*We used the other half of a roast that was left over from this dinner.

Ingredients:
1 small roast*, seasoned with HungryHeath beef rub
1 small package of whole mushrooms, chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 red onion, diced
Tony Chachere's Gravy mix


 Directions:
1. Since I already had the grill going, I went ahead & seared the roast all all sides.

2. Place the roast into instant pot, along with red onion, garlic & mushrooms

3. Add 1 can of beer & set for manual - 20 minutes (The 35 minutes we did was too long)

4. Once Instant Pot has finished cooking, add the prepared gravy mix (as directed on package)

5. Serve atop rice, mashed potatoes, noodles or bread.

salad fixins