spicy chipotle salsa

 I absolutely love this recipe for chipotle salsa! It's sort of sweet and savory -- but also nice and spicy (of course).  A milder version would be equally as good -- if you're not into the heat -- just reduce the number of chiles.

Recipe --

4 large firm-ripe tomatoes (or 8-10 smaller ones), whole

2 medium unpeeled onions, halved horizontally

20 unpeeled garlic cloves

8 dried chipotle chiles (use around half this amount for a milder version)

3 tbl olive oil

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

salt, to taste

The first step is grilling the vegetables -- this works best with a grill pan or heavy bottomed saute pan lined with foil.  Heat the pan over high and place tomatoes, onions and garlic on foil.  Grill until browned in spots, turning occassionally -- this takes around 10-12 min.  Remove vegetables and cool.  While these are cooling add dried chiles to pan and cook until just slightly softened and darkened in spots (turning often) -- this just takes a few minutes.  Let cool.

Slit chiles and remove stems and seeds.  It's best if you use gloves to do this...otherwise you'll be feeling the effects for a while afterward.  Chop chiles into small pieces and add to a blender (for best results) or a food processor.  Core tomatoes and rough chop into chunks, add to blender with chiles.  Peel and chop onions and garlic, add to blender.  Puree mixture until smooth, scraping sides periodically to ensure that all particles are incorporated.

Pour olive oil in a large saute pan or dutch oven and heat over medium-high.  When oil is hot, add tomato-chile mixture and cook until it begins to simmer rapidly (being sure to stir often).  Then add lime juice and cook 10-15 minutes longer -- until salsa has thickened slightly.  Once cool, adjust seasoning to taste.  I ended up adding another squeeze of lime juice to bring up the acid just a bit.

This salsa is great served with chips -- but I think it would also make an excellent marinade or accompaniment for chicken or pork.  I'm going to trying it on chicken tacos for dinner this week and will share the results!

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