Sunday, May 8, 2011

Tomatillo Salsa (Salsa Verde)

My family loves Mexican food. That might actually be an understatement. In fact, there have been months that have gone by where we've eaten at our favorite Mexican restaurant at least 2-3 times a week. We know the servers, the managers, the chip boys, and the hostesses by name and they know us.

The first time we had tomatillo salsa was at El Mesón in Chattanooga. They always served their chips with a jar of tomato salsa and a jar of tomatillo salsa. I never liked the "green salsa" then, but I love it now! Our current favorite Mexican restaurant's tomatillo salsa is very spicy. I like spicy foods, but not so spicy it burns my taste buds off! Our favorite Mexican restaurant in Spartanburg had perfect tomatillo salsa and when we walked in the door, someone would immediately head to our table with a fresh bowl of it as we were being seated. Like I said, we ate there a lot.

Since we haven’t found a restaurant around here with good tomatillo salsa, I decided to make my own.

Tomatillo Salsa (Salsa Verde)
Makes 4-5 cups

1 ½ - 2 lbs tomatillos
2 medium sized jalapenos
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion
1 ½ tsp sea salt
Handful of cilantro
Juice of ½ a lime

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel husks off of tomatillos and rinse tomatillos under water to remove sticky residue. Peel onion and cut into quarters. Peel garlic. Cut stems off of jalapenos and slice in half. Put first 4 ingredients on baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through roasting.

Remove from oven and put everything except the tomatillos in food processor and process until all pieces are very small. Core the tomatillos with a small paring knife (this should be easy since they will be soft) and place in food processor. Process all ingredients until they reach desired consistency (I like mine smooth).

Es muy sabrosa!

3 comments:

  1. Sounds delish! Love me some Mexican food too, but I don't think I have ever had this before. When we eat Mexican, we get Just the red salsa. Next time I go, I'm going to ask about the green salsa!

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  2. I made some last month and added a new ingredient from a recipe off the internet: green olives! I was brave and added it to my recipe and let me tell you, it added a beautiful dimension to my already tasty recipe. I add a quarter head of iceberg lettuce to the mix in the blender. That's a secret from my Mexican friends at my Spanish church. It takes the edge off the green tomatillos. Also my friend Angelica says it's a gamble using fresh tomatillos instead of canned. Sometimes the fresh ones turn out real bitter and there's no telling during the process. I go back and forth, even though I've had a couple of batches of bitter tomatillos. But it feels better using fresh ingredients.

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  3. @Joy -- I might have to try some green olives and lettuce next time! Mine turned out kind of sweet, but I think its because I used a vidalia onion.

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