What to do with Jalapenos? Roasted Jalapeno & Melon Salsa, Gazpacho or Popsicles

When I went to buy one jalapeno for the Farro Salad with Corn & Nectarines, I had to buy 6 because that's how Trader Joe's sold them. So 6-1=5. I had 5 jalapenos to deal with...what to do???

I decided to fire roast them and then create a fun recipe with them using what I had on hand: mainly a melon. First I created a Roasted Jalapeno & Melon Salsa and then I turned that creation into two other dishes.

To roast jalapenos:
Put them directly onto the gas flame and rotate until the peppers are completely black. Put the blackened jalapenos into a covered bowl for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove the skin, the stem and the seeds.

WARNING: you may want to use gloves when handling the jalapenos. My fingers were burning for hours.

Roasted Jalapeno & Melon Salsa
Ingredients

1-2 roasted jalapenos, skin, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 melon, peeled, chopped (~6 cups)
2 diced peaches
juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Eat with chips.

CONFESSION: I originally made this salsa using THREE jalapenos and only 1/2 of the melon. When I tried the salsa, I thought I would die from the heat. It was too much for me. So I added more melon. It was still pretty spicy, but not to the level of I'm going to die. So please follow the recipe above and maybe start with one jalapeno, taste, and then add the second one if you want more heat.

The recipe above is great not only as salsa, but also as gazpacho or popsicles!

For gazpacho, puree the salsa recipe and serve in glasses. You can also add fresh tomatoes to the blender and simply adjust salt and lime amounts.

For adult popsicles, puree the salsa recipe and add to the popsicles molds. Make sure your kids don't eat them!

You can also freeze the roasted jalapenos after removing the skin, stem and seeds for use in the future recipes.