One of my favorite homemade sauces is tomatillo salsa. The green salsas you buy in the grocery store simply don’t compare with the fresh home made version! The only tomatillo salsa in a jar that I like is the Trader Joe’s brand. There are however some great salsa verdes available at some Mexican and Spanish restaurants. However, if you don’t eat pork, you’ll have to ask if they added pork to their recipe.
For me, I not only love eating this wonderful fresh salsa with chips, I love using it to make chicken casseroles or just smothering fish or chicken in it. You can make it ahead of time and then add it to many dishes! If you don’t eat meat, you can use it in vegetarian tacos or burritos or vegetarian Mexican casseroles.
The other day I was inspired to make this salsa and it turned out hotter than I really like, so I sauteed a whole onion until it was very sweet and browned, and then blended it into the salsa. It toned it down and made it a bit sweeter. Very nice!
So if you’re looking for a great Tomatillo Salsa recipe, here it is!:
8-9 small-medium tomatillos, husks removed, washed and quartered
2 cloves of garlic
1/2-1 jalepeno, seeded (depends on how spicy you’d like it and how large the pepper is – I wish I had used half!)
2 large handfuls of cilantro leaves and tender stems
1 small handful or parsley (optional)
3 green onions, sliced (also optional, I forgot this and it was still great)
1 lime juiced
salt to taste, about 1/2 tsp
1 Tbsp of olive oil
Steps:
1. Peel and wash the tomatillos. Cut into quarters, put into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes or until soft and darker green. Drain and set aside to cool.
3. In a blender, combine the rest of the ingredients and the tomatillos. Sauce should be slightly spicy, tangy, garlicky and fresh tasting.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:53 am
Huge fan of tomatillos! Always look forward to being able to find them fresh.
I also love roasting them for salsa too.
August 1st, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yummmm – I love tomatillos, especially as an enchilada sauce. I still have a few jars in my freezer from last season! -Ali
August 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
[...] while I’m shopping I will get ingredients for something I have been wanting to make (like my tomatillo salsa) but oftentimes, dinner is a creative process of coming up with something new, yummy and healthy [...]
August 21st, 2009 at 9:39 am
That looks REALLY good, Sarah!
August 21st, 2009 at 9:49 am
Thanks Ren!