Tom's Excellent Blender Salsa

Circle B Kitchen

This makes a lot of salsa, so it's great for a crowd, but it's super easy to just halve the recipe if you'd like. Be sure to use crushed tomatoes. They provide the perfect consistency. Also, we're not big fans of the flavor of raw garlic, so I place the garlic cloves in the microwave for like 3 or 4 seconds or as long as it takes to heat them through and sort of cook and soften them which takes out that sharp, raw flavor.

2 14-oz cans crushed tomatoes (or 1 28-oz can)

1/2 cup diced onion

2 cloves garlic (see headnote)

2T white wine vinegar (or lime juice)

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (or more if desired)**

2 tsp salt

a good handful of cilantro sprigs

1 tablespoon sugar

Place 1 14-oz can (or half of the 28-oz can) into the blender with the other ingredients. Process until smooth. Add in the remaining can of tomatoes and pulse once or twice so the tomatoes stay in little chunks. Taste and add more salt or chipotle if needed. Keep refrigerated.

** After opening the can of chipotle in adobo, I run the whole thing through the blender and place that in a jar. It will keep several centuries like this and it's so much easier to use. For this recipe I use close to a tablespoon, or half that if you're halving the recipe.