Those vegetables that we think of as "summer vegetables" are finally showing up in my local farmer's markets, and to a very small extent in my garden. I didn't really get much planted in the garden this year, so the low yield is not surprising.
Tomatillos are plentiful now, so I have made my first batch of tomatillo salsa. I usually make two kinds when the fresh ripe tomatillos are plentiful, and either can or freeze them for future use. Now that mexican markets are more common, I can get tomatillos all year, but the winter tomatillos are never as nice as those fresh off the vine, so I still put some away for the depths of winter.
Sunday I made roasted tomatillo salsa.
First you pull the lovely papery wrapper off the tomatillos. Then I roast them under the broiler until they are brown in spots and soft, but have not yet burst; you don't want to loose much of the lovely juice. Remove tomatillos from heat and allow to cool.
I also roasted some peppers and garlic cloves. This can be one on a griddle, or under a broiler; if you are using a broiler however, be careful to watch carefully so that you don't burn anything. I used a combination of serrano chiles and jalapenos, as that is what I had available, although generally I prefer serranos in this salsa.
Jalapenos are producing now locally but the serrano season is a non-starter. By the time the nights got warm enough to set fruit, the days were already growing too short, and unlike jalapenos, serranos are not daylight neutral. I didn't plant jalapenos, and my serranos and chiles de árbol are not likely to produce unless I dig them up, pot them, bring them indoors and hand polinate them. I've done it before.
But back to the salsa. We don't make a particularly hot salsa, and the number of peppers depends on the type of pepper, and the heat of the individual peppers as well. For example usually jalapenos grown here are not as hot as those grown further south in Texas, where I grew up. I used 2 serranos and 2 jalapenos for each pound of tomatillos along with 3 cloves of garlic. Leave the papery peel on the garlic and leave the chiles whole. You want to cook the chiles until they are blackened in spots, and soft, about 5 minutes on a griddle. The garlic will take a little longer, 10 to 15 minutes. You want the papery peel to be dry and brown and falling off the garlic with dark spots and the garlic to be soft and beginning to turn golden.
Using rubber gloves, remove the stems and seeds from the peppers and the peel from the garlic. Throw the peppers and garlic into a blender jar or food processor along with the cooled tomatillos and any juice. Add about a teaspoon of salt per pound of tomatillos. Pulse or blend until everything has formed a coarse textured puree.
Mince a small white onion (for 1 pound of tomatillos) and stir it into the puree. Taste the salsa. You might need to add a small amount of sugar to round out any bitter flavors. Add sugar in small 1/2 teaspoon increments. You don't want a sweet salsa, you just want to take the edge off the flavor if necessary.
If you are going to use the salsa right away I would also add cilantro, about a generous quarter-cup, but since I am saving this salsa for use later in the week and freezing the rest, I left it out. The cilantro does not freeze well and loses its fresh flavor. Since it is always available it is better to add it just before serving or using the salsa. This salsa is also rather thick, and it keeps better in this form. If you want to use this right away as a dipping sauce for chips, you will probably need to add some water, probably 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup to thin 2 cups of salsa.
One pound of tomatillos will yield about 2 cups of salsa.
I freeze this salsa as the canning process changes the flavor and raw onion is not safe for water-bath canning. It keeps well in the freezer stored in one or two cup containers.
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