Blackened Tomato and Chipolte Salsa

It's harvest time which means that I have been making sooo much food for the freezer or preserving somehow. I have tomatoes up to my eyebrows, so I've been on the hunt for great new recipes to use them all.

In a very rarely used book called "Whole Food" by Jude Blereau, I came across this recipe which I thought was perfect because I had the following random ingredients:

tomatoes
chipolte peppers in adobo that I opened a while ago, froze, then thawed thinking it was tomato paste (note to self: start identifying items prior to putting them in your freezer)
fresh apple juice from all the apple pies I made the other day

And I like salsa. And it gives me an excuse to buy tortilla chips.

Makes 2 cups

6 ripe tomatoes
1-2 fresh red chilies (I used three from our garden. Another random ingredient needing attention due to copious quantities)
3-4 garlic cloves (I used 3)
a full medium chipolte in adobo, pureed or minced
2 tsp of fresh apple juice

Blacken your tomatoes and chilies on the bbq over a nice hot flame. Make sure you really blacken them, especially the chilies, because they are a pain in the ass to peel if the skin hasn't blistered from the flesh. Remove to a bowl and cover with a plate. Or steam them a way that works for you, I find baggies work well too.

Roughly peel the tomatoes and chili. I mostly seeded my tomatoes too since I'm not a huge fan, though I kept the seeds from ONE chili for some heat.

Place your tomatoes, chili and garlic in a food processor and purée. Turn into a frying pan over low-medium heat. Add your chipolte and apple juice and simmer for about 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally until the salsa begins to thicken and turn a nice, deep red. Check for taste, adjust with more chipolte or apple juice as necessary and reduce further if needed. I simmered for about 25 minutes until it was the consistency I wanted. It'll further thicken as it cools as well.

Serve with chips. It tastes like a creamy tomato-y sauce right off the bat, then it deepens into a gentle 'mmm' of heat, then finishes with a pow of heat. It's addictive, I'm going to go eat more right now.

And no photos because I'm not organized. Sorry!