Oh, when I read dark reddish-brown I was thinking chipotle. My DH makes a super-hot sauce in the blender with those. Here's the recipe:
1/4 C plus 1 Tbsp virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, peeled & chopped
2 lbs. roma tomatoes, blackened (roast in oven on baking sheet)
4 tsp. finely minced roasted garlic
1/2 C minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 chipotle chiles en abodo, chopped
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
Heat 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in a saute' pan over med. heat until lightly smoking, add onion, saute' till carmelized (10 min). Transfer the onion, half the blackened tomatoes, and garlic to a food processor or blender, and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed. Add cilantro & chipotle chiles, and pulse again to mix.
Peel, seed, and chop the remaining pound of tomatoes (my DH just throws them in and skips that step, it turns out fine), and fold in together w/ the remaining 1/4 C olive oil, vinegar, salt and sugar.
Variation: Sub. 2 lbs. of tomatillos for the tomatoes. Husk and rinse them and blacken them before using.
All purpose salsa, esp. good w/ tortilla chips or red meat, yields about 4 cups.
This is what my DH calls "eating his vegetables".
