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Christmas is just around the corner. I know, it's a little early, but hey it always catches me by surprise. There's always that person who gives you something that you didn't expect. I decided this year that my salsa making skills are honed and ready for the gift giving season. Salsa's already got Christmas colors. They just need a pretty jar, great ribbon and a gift tag and they're good to go. Not to mention they can be an easy hostess gift. The one ingredient that will give a hint of sweetness, creaminess and that unknown depth of flavor is butternut squash. Here's a recipe for one spaghetti sauce sized jar.
Gather up these ingredients:
5 medium tomatoes
1 onion, pealed and cut in half (yellow or white)
2 jalepeno peppers
2 large cloves of garlic
1 small handfull of cilantro
1/2 lime
1/2 cup of roasted butternut squash or pumpkin (I used frozen leftovers from ravioli night but you can also use canned)
2 tbsp canned chipotle peppers in adobo
1 tbsp salt
Steps:
1. Place the tomatoes, onion halves face down and whole jalepenos on a baking sheet.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and coat
3. Place under the broiler for 10 minutes. Turn and keep them under until the top of the onion has turned dark brown/black. Don't discard the blackened bits!
4. Place everything from the oven and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and give it a whirl until everything is pureed.
5. Place in jars and refrigerate.