Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I’m going start focusing on holiday gift ideas. Hopefully one post a week until the New Year. I already covered two ideas, Guinness Stout Beer Jelly and Curry Pickled Cauliflower, last year. That beer jelly is a huge hit with everyone that tries it. So if you need a quick and easy gift idea, start there.

But in the mean time I plan on trying some other easy gift ideas for you to use. This week will be Tomatillo Salsa Verde. This is great stuff. And versatile too. A half pint in the stocking is destined to be enjoyed with a bowl of chips and a cold beer. A pint for the hostess of your holiday party will be used as a green enchilada sauce. And that quart you give to your friend can be combined with a couple pounds of chicken and slow cooked to a great green chile chicken for burritos, tacos, or whatever.

Not only that, but this is a one pot dish that gets blended. So no precise chopping or huge mess afterward.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde



Tomatillos

Onions

Jalapeños

Cilantro

Lemon juice

Garlic

Cumin

Salt/Pepper

We’ll talk ratios further down the line.

Tomatillos. What the hell are they? They are a fruit if the Nightshade family and fall under the category of “Who decided it was a good idea to eat this?” plants. Tomatillos are generally green, but you can also find yellow, red, and purple ones (though I haven’t). The fruit resembles a green tomato. But it’s very firm and covered in a thin husk that reminds me if a Japanese paper lantern. As the fruit grown is fills the husk and eventually breaks through. Tomatillos are sold in all stages of this process.

Sometimes the fruit fills the husk, other times it doesn’t. And both are fine.

Sometimes you will find a sticky coating between the fruit and the husk, similar in feel to partially dried hair spray. Don’t worry, it washes off easily.

Which brings me to the next step. The husks are not edible and must be removed. I like to kill two birds with one stone and remove the husk while washing the fruit. The running water helps separate the husk from the fruit and with a quick run the sticky residue is gone too. Invert the husk over the stem, twist, and remove.

The inside looks like this.

Fill a pot with water and drop your tomatillos in.

Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. In the mean time prep the rest of your ingredients. Cut the stems off your jalapeños and split lengthwise.

Use a paring knife and cut the veins and seeds out. Here’s my theory on jalapeños and heat. If you want mild sauce remove all the veins and seeds. For hot, leave them all in. For a solid medium leave half. I cut them all out and then add about half back in.

Chop your onion, cilantro and garlic as well. Again, we are puréeing this later, so precision is not a factor.

Your tomatillos will darken in color and become soft.

Remove and drain them. But reserve a cup or two of the boiling liquid.

I cook, can, bake, and process so much stuff that I don’t get burns on my fingers very easily anymore. If your fingers are more….sensitive, use tongs for this next step. Cut the tomatillos into quarters. This is what the inside if a tomatillo looks like.

Toss the tomatillos in the pot with the onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeños. Add some of the boiling liquid to the pot. How much is up to you. Just enough to prevent anything from burning and sticking to the bottom.

Add salt, pepper, cumin and lemon juice. Then turn the heat on. Bring the salsa to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Your salsa should liquefy, the onions become translucent and generally look like this.

Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender and *carefully* blend until smooth.

Fill your clean jars to the 1″ head space. Apply a clean lid and band, and hand tighten.

Process in a water bath canned for 20 minutes. And you’re done.

Ratios:

3lbs of tomatillos is approximately 6 cups. 1 lb of chopped onion is approximately 3 cups.

Every batch is 6 cups of tomatillos, 3 cups of onion, 3 jalapeños, 1/2 cup cilantro, 6 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. I made three times this much in one batch. This recipe is a bit heavy on the cumin, but I love the heat and flavor that it adds. Other options are a mix of lemon juice and vinegar for a sour bite, adding some lime juice, and adding or removing garlic. A single batch yields about 2-3 quarts.

This recipe involves little prep work, is prepared and processed in under one hour, and only involved a cutting board and large pot.

I added a quart of this to a crock pot with a couple pounds of chicken breasts. 6 hours later I had green chile chicken. I shredded the chicken with two forks. Then I rolled the chicken in several tortilla shells and placed them in a glass casserole dish. I topped it all off with more tomatillo salsa and shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes then broil to crisp the cheese. Boom, easy peasy green enchiladas.

Happy canning.