tomatillo salsa

Submitted by portlandpiper on Sun, 2008-10-05 00:59.
I picked up some really nice tomatillos from Dave this past week and turned them into some delicious salsa. This salsa is great as a sauce on eggs, chicken, and pork. It can also be used as a base for a tomatillo soup and is a nice addition to green chile.

For me tomatillo salsa has to be kept simple. I have seen and tasted many recipes that include many extra spices and seasonings, including sugar, and they all taste wrong. Use fresh ingredients and treat them right and you will be rewarded.

Freeze the extra in small containers or ice cube trays for use throughout the winter.

Servings:
many
Preparation Time:
30 to 60 minutes
Tools
  • kitchen towel
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • baking sheet
  • covered bowl or bag
  • large sauce pan (optional)
  • blender

Ingredients

  • 1 part: green & yellow chiles
  • 1 part: onions
  • 4 parts: tomatillos
  • 1/4 part: garlic
  • salt & pepper to taste
Cooking Instructions
Wash, dry, and split the chiles. Remove the seeds and inner membranes. Place chiles cut side down on the baking sheet. Tougher chiles near the centre and more delicate ones near the edge. Place chiles near the top of the oven under the broiler until the skin just begins to blacken. Removed blackened chiles to covered bowl (or bag). Peel off blackened skins after chiles have cooled for a few minutes.

Peel onions and cut into 1/2" thick slices. Place onions onto the baking sheet. Broil on high until onions start to brown.

Peel off the tomatillo husks (outer leaves) and wash the tomatillos thoroughly. (Tomatillo skin can be sticky and very dirty.) Split the tomatillos in half and place cut side up on the baking sheet. Broil until tomatillos almost start to get a few black spots.

Peel the garlic and cook the cloves under a low broiler until they just start to take on a little colour. Do not let them brown.

At this point you can place all of the ingredients straight into the blender. Blend down the salsa and season it with salt & pepper. -or-

Do what I do and put it into the sauce pan in this order: tomatillos (on the bottom), onions, chiles, garlic (on the top). Cover and cook on high until you hear the pot boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, uncover, and go at it with an immersion blender. Season it with salt & pepper.

Notes


I was taught how to do the blender version of this dish by mi Tia Gloria but now I always take the extra step and cook the ingredients down in the sauce pan. The sauce just seems to have a richer texture after the extra cooking.

There should be no need to add sugar to tomatillo salsa. There is enough natural sugar in the tomatillos, onions, and garlic that is concentrated by cooking these ingredients under the broiler to give the resulting salsa a wonderful sweet & sour flavour.