sheldonfinlay

Ah, the summer CSA harvest. Time to pick up weird hippie vegetables that no one knows what to do with. This week we had tomatillos in our farm share. Tomatillos are like tomatoes that got freaky with, oh I don’t know, a rutabaga. Trust me, they are not tomato!. They have husks and a proboscis, they are dense, and they smell kind of suspicious. Fortunately our culinary ancestors tamed the wild tomatillos for us and determined that about the only thing tomatillos are good for is green salsa, or as the Trader Joe’s generation of today likes to say, salsa verde. I guess verde is the spanish word for tomatillo or something.

I couldn’t find a recipe that appealed to my tastes, so I ended up frankensteining 4 different recipes and surprisingly it turned out great! Everyone in my family enjoyed it. I don’t like measuring, so everything is approximate. Adjust according to your tastes.

What you’ll need:

• a couple pounds or so of tomatillos, probably 8 - 10.
• 1 large onion, cut into quarters
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• A few jalapeno peppers.
• A couple fist fulls of cilantro
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 lime

What you’ll do:

1. De-husk and wash the tomatillos and cut them in half and place them on a cookie sheet. Place them in the oven on broil for about 5 - 7 minutes. You want them to darken or even burn a bit. It adds to the flavor.
2. Take about three quarters of the tomatillos and put them in a food processor with the onion. Puree them well. Remove from the food processor and place in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. 
3. Add the rest of the tomatillos to the food processor, along with the garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano and salt. You can add the jalapenos now, or midway through the blending if you like them chunky. Go ahead and blend it up, but leave it a bit courser than the first batch. Once done combine with the first batch in sauce pan. You can add a little bit of water if things seem to thick. The boiling will remove some water.
4. Add in the brown sugar and vinegar and bring it to a near boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes.
5. Cool it down and squeeze in the juice of the lime and enjoy!