Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote in this post that I volunteered at the local community garden and brought home a bunch of veggies? Part of my haul was a big bag of beautiful dark purple and green tomatillos!
I had never seen a tomatillo up close until this summer and had no idea they were the main ingredient in my favorite kind of salsa, salsa verde. I've made and canned red tomato salsa in the past but always thought that tomatillos were some exotic vegetable that grew in the tropics. Crazy right? I was especially amazed when I visited our local community garden a few weeks ago and there was a long row of huge tomatillo plants just hanging full of fresh veggies. Needless to say I saved some seeds and am currently drying them out to plant our own tomatillo patch next year!
Last month a coworker shared some homemade Salsa Verde and it was so delicious. She gave me the recipe she used which is what I used as my base recipe but tweaked a few things. Since our tomatillos were mostly dark purple, our salsa turned out more purple than green. Thus ensued a dinner debate between my husband and I over whether we could really call this "Salsa Verde". Neither of us knew the Spanish word for purple so we both agreed that we should just call it "Tomatillo Salsa"!
For our supper last night, we had fresh homemade Tomatillo Salsa with tortilla chips and our favorite Black Bean and Yam Burritos (here's the recipe if you missed it). It was so delicious!
Tomatillo Salsa AKA Salsa Verde
2 pounds Tomatillos
2-3 garlic cloves
1 cup white onion
1 cup cilantro
1 1/2 TBS fresh lime juice
1-2 Jalepeno peppers seeded (more if you like more spice!)
salt
Remove the outer husk from the tomatillos by simply peeling it all off. Cut the tomatillos in half and place on a non-stick or oiled baking sheet. Broil for a few minutes until the skins start to darken. I had to rotate our pan under the broiler to help achieve a more even broil.
While the tomatillos are in the oven, coarsely chop the onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro and place in the food processor. Add the fresh squeezed lime juice. Once the tomatillos are done, place them in the food processor and pulse until the salsa is finely chopped. Salt to taste and enjoy!
This makes a nice large batch but not quite enough for me to justify getting out all my canning supplies to can it. Instead, I froze some in 2 cup containers so we can easily pull out a container and thaw it when we want some yummy homemade salsa!
tomatillos are awesome and your salsa looks terrific. thanks for sharing it on foodie friday.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree tomatillos are awesome, I can't believe I never knew much about them until this summer!
DeleteThe salsa looks wonderful. I love tomatillos and hope that I can grow them next year.
ReplyDeleteYael from Home Garden Diggers
This salsa was SO tasty, my husband keeps asking for more but unfortunately we only had a small amount of tomatillos! I guess I'll have to plant a really large crop next year :)
DeleteWe have a recipe, somewhere, for a sweet tomatillo salsa that I love. PS don't used canned ones thinking they're a good alternative unless you're pureeing what you're making - they're slimy. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, I had thought about that since we loved this salsa so much and our growing season is over now! I'll have to keep an eye out at the store and see if the fresh tomatillos ever go on sale and I can stock up and make a huge batch of salsa that will last longer!
DeleteI have never seen a purple tomatillo. I grow green tomatillos, there were a few this year that had a purple tinge to the husk, but i wondered if it came from the coffee grounds. The particular plant came up in my compost!
ReplyDeleteI wash them off with cool water to remove the sticky residue prior to using them. I use a little whey and make a fermented salsa. Love it!
I do recall my grandmother making jelly with them. Just using the tomatillo to replace the fruit.
Ooohh, tomatillo jelly sounds quite tasty! I hadn't realized that purple tomatillos were not the norm- I thought they all turned purple when they were ripe, looks like I have a little research to do :)
DeleteI haven't seen a purple tomatillo either ... I'll have to watch for it. Thanks for sharing at Scratch Cookin' Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteI was so curious about the purple color that I had to do a little internet search- supposedly the purple tomatillos are a little sweeter than the green ones and are the preferred ones to use in jam!
DeleteI've never seen one of those before! I'm a salsa nut and have never had that salsa either! Time to expand my horizons!
ReplyDeleteI rarely eat red salsas anymore, I'm a salsa verde nut :)
DeleteLast year I grew tomatillos just so I could make salsa verde. Yummy stuff!
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely what we're going to do next year Lisa!
DeleteThanks for sharing this as well! I have grown tomatillos before and they do tend to reseed quite easily, so be prepared for lots of volunteers if you don't pick all the fruit. Also, I made the mistake of only growing one plant this year and I have a plant loaded with fruit that never came on! So, two plants are a must to grow!! (I planted one in a 5 gallon pot and it grew well.) I usually just heat my tomatillos in a saucepan, but I like the idea of roasting them, thanks for the tip! Enjoyed your post too. Blessings! Nancy at livininthegreen
ReplyDeleteThank you for that tip on growing more than one plant- That would be so frustrating to put all that time and energy into growing a plant and then not having it bear anything to harvest!
DeleteUntil your photo I'd never seen other purple tomatillos besides the ones I got in my farm share! I followed the Ball canning book recipe and canned a mess of salsa verde using Hatch chilies when my local grocery store was roasting fresh ones, and my salsa came out very verde. But then I got another pile of tomatillos and some hot red peppers. I froze that and labelled it Salsa-Verde-ish. Not good for enchiladas, but tasty otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try roasting them next summer. Thanks!
I love the name of your salsa :) Since we're planning to grow a bunch next year I think we'll be canning a big batch too, this small batch I made is almost gone and my husband is already asking for more :)
DeleteNever tried making a non-red tomato salsa at home before, looks delish! Thanks for linking up to Snacktime Saturday!
ReplyDeleteYou should totally try it, it was so easy and yummy! Salsa verde has a totally different flavor than a red salsa, once I tried it quickly became my favorite :)
DeleteThis looks so good -- thanks for the recipe Annie. xo
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Nancy :) I can't wait to make another big batch since it goes so fast in our house!
Deletei also used to have the same impression of tomatillos - a hot weather fruit. but then i saw them at the farmers market and was so excited. haha. I promptly bought a bag of them and brought them home to make fire roasted salsa verde. Holla!
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up! i look forward to seeing you again this week with more seasonal & fresh/real food blog posts :) xo, kristy
We just love Salsa Verde and your recipe looks delicious! Have a fabulous weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
ReplyDeleteCome Back Soon!
Miz Helen
I have never seen tomatillos that color, it gives the salsa such a fun look. Thanks so much for sharing this with Delicious Dish Tuesday. I am featuring you this week as my favorite recipe at Coping with Frugality!
ReplyDeletei will have to try this recipe it looks so delicious thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy mother in law grew a ton of these last year and asked me if I could use them and had no idea how to. This would be so good over enchiladas too!! This year I will definitely take her up on the offer
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