When life gives you tomatillos, make salsa!
Last week I stumbled across a batch of perfectly lovely fresh tomatillos whilst perusing all of the other south of the border delights in a Mexican tienda. We were actually dive bar hunting (one of my other writing gigs, check it out here) when we came across this wonderful market. I love shopping in international markets, home or abroad, whenever I get the chance. They are like magnets that just pull me in. I feel like grocery shopping is a universal task that unites us as humans and I love seeing what fun ingredients people in other countries have to work with.
These tomatillos just called my name. I knew they would make a delicious roasted salsa. And I was not wrong!
Here’s how I made it:
Peel the papery skins off of the tomatillos. Rough cut a small white onion into chunklets. Coat tomatillos and onions in a light oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Roast ’em on a sheet pan at around 400 degrees until everything gets soft and browned in spots. The tomatillos will make a lot of liquid – that is normal. And delicious!
Cool a bit and then transfer the veg and magical juices to a food processor or blender.
Whir them up until your desired chunkiness is reached. This is how I like mine:
Check for salt but mine didn’t need any. It was just a bright, almost citrusy flavor with a touch of tannin. This was amazing on carnitas tacos and also stirred into a bean stew. Easy as can be, go make it.
