Roasted tomato red pepper salsa

With all the hoopla downtown, it's even harder than usual to forget about the upcoming Super Bowl. If you're still inclined to watch (there are always the commercials to diss), the question of suitable noshes comes up. You don't want to veer too pretentious (this is football we're talking about), and it has to be something you can scarf in between yelling at the TV if you actually care who wins.

 There's nothing wrong with opening up a jar of your favorite salsa and bag of your favorite chips and inhaling it while watching the game. Generally speaking I prefer a fresh salsa like the one from Martha Rose Shulman's "Classic Party Fare." But if you're looking for a bit of variety, this roasted salsa offers a nice combination of mellow flavors with some notes of heat.

Oven-roasted tomato and red pepper salsa

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, Aug. 2014

Ingredients

2 pints cherry tomatoes

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into large chunks

2 Fresno chili peppers, stemmed and seeded, cut in half

5 garlic cloves, peeled, divided

4 green onions, white and light green parts only, left whole

1 medium yellow onion, peeled, halved, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 dried chiles de arbol, crushed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

Salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with tin foil. Place tomatoes, red and Fresno peppers, green onions and 4 whole garlic cloves on the sheet. Cut one half of the onion into 8 quarters; place on baking sheet. Bake until tomatoes are wrinkled and onions begin to soften, about 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Chop coarsely and put into a serving bowl.

Heat olive oil in a small pan. Chop remaining onion half and dice remaining garlic clove. Add onion to the warm oil and cook until soft. Add garlic and arbol chiles and cook a minute more. Add to tomato mixture in bowl.

Stir in parsley, vinegar, cumin and salt to taste.

Makes a goodly amount, the equivalent of two average size jars. You can make it in advance and let it come up to room temperature.

Rating: Nice. And unlike your team, it's not likely to disappoint you.