Roasted Chipotle Salsa (1 Star)

Bragging is not something that I typically do (I don't think) but I am going to brag about this salsa. It's so awesome!

I recently had a craving for salsa that I bought at Costco last year that I remember being called Santa Barbara Salsa Fresca, a slightly sweet and spicy salsa with roasted peppers. (Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If so, do you know where I can buy it?) I fell in love with it last year but hadn't bought it for a while. Unfortunately I discovered that our Costco isn't carrying it anymore and may or may not later. But I had to have it. Unable to find it on the Internet and unable to find a recipe, I began trying to figure out how to make it myself. I often tinker with recipes, making changes here and there, but I have never tried to figure out the recipe for an existing dish before. And actually, it may not be accurate to say that I figured this out myself because I did find a recipe (here) that was an excellent starting point on 101 Cookbooks, but I changed it to get what I was after. And I feel like I did a fairly good job because I did get what I was after! Woo hoo!

Roasted Chipotle Salsa

3 sweet peppers, 1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow
2 pounds Roma tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1 large yellow onion cut into six wedges
4 medium cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 canned chipotle chilies with some of the sauce (these are fairly spicy, but one was not too spicy for our kids)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt (or to taste)
1-2 Tablespoons honey (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, stir tomatoes, onions, and garlic, with olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place the olive oil coated vegetables onto a foil-lined cookie sheet (tomatoes skin side down) along with the three sweet peppers. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes and then turn the peppers over and roast another 10-15 minutes. The peppers and onions should have black spots and the tomatoes should begin to collapse a little. Remove from the oven and place peppers into the large bowl used to stir vegetables and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to sit for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Remove the peppers from the bowl and remove stems and seeds and peel the skins off of the pepper flesh.

Puree four or five of the tomato halves, the chipotles, and the roasted garlic in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until coarsely chopped. Taste and add more salt and honey if desired. Be sure to have plenty of chips on hand! This is also excellent used in soups and other recipes--coming up next!