A “cheater salsa”, according to our good friend Mark & my husband Ryan, is defined as a salsa that doesn’t use 100% fresh ingredients; therefore, any salsa that’s made using canned tomatoes or chiles, etc. would be a “cheater salsa”. The term “cheater salsa” came about after the discovery that our friend Michael Reedy used canned tomatoes to make his own homemade, delicious salsa – oh, the shock, the horror… Mark & Ryan were dismayed as they had assumed Michael’s salsa was made with entirely fresh ingredients. However, with that said, sometimes it’s ok to cheat & boy does it taste good!

Ingredients:
8 on the vine, ripe, red tomatoes
1 14.5oz can fire roasted, adobo seasoned, diced tomatoes (we use Muir Glen)
1/2 large purple onion, diced
2 jalapeños
1 poblano pepper
1 cup fresh cliantro
1.5 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 lime, juiced

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly coat the fresh tomatoes, jalapeño, & poblano peppers with olive oil. Place these on a baking sheet & roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until peppers start to blacken & the tomatoes start to peel; flip these occasionally while roasting. Once the tomatoes & peppers are ready, remove from oven & let tomatoes cool. Place peppers in a paper bag & fold the bag shut for about 15 minutes or until the peppers cool to touch; this will help to skin the peppers more easily. Remove skins from peppers, cut the tops off, & deseed to your liking (remember, seeds = spicy). Dice the peppers (and remaining seeds). Core and deseed the tomatoes; they fall apart easily so if you lose some of the yummy roasted peel and tomato it isn’t a total loss. In a food processor chop the cilanto into tiny bits. Add the fresh roasted tomatoes, canned tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and salt, into a blender or large food processor. Puree ingredients into a texture of your liking. If your blender or food processor allows pulsing, puree it with several bursts of pulse power versus one constant puree (we’re not trying to make smoothies here).

Note, this recipe makes a lot of salsa, after all it’s for a party. So, make yourself some guacamole, open up some Coronas, make a margarita or two, grab some chips, and enjoy!

If you don’t want to cheat, you can make your own adobo seasoning (garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and dry Mexican oregano). Also, if it isn’t 28 degrees outside, as it is here, you can fire roast fresh tomatoes over the grill and let them marinate in the adobo mix overnight to get them close to the same flavor as the canned tomatoes.