I must have been Latino in a previous life because I LOVE Mexican flavors! Tomatillos (pronounced TOM-AH-TEE-OHS), are a beautiful little “green tomato” that grow inside a papery husk. They have a bright lemon-like tartness which can be used to balance out many recipes. If we let them ripen on the plant they would actually turn yellow, red, or purple. You will typically find them unripened and green, which is good because they have more flavor this way!
This recipe is called Versatile Creamy Tomatillo Salsa because it can be used in a variety of ways, such as
- An enchilada sauce.
- To spice up tacos of any kind, I love it with fish tacos!
- Tossed with your favorite pasta, pine nuts, and feta.
- In guacamole.
- Simply eaten with chips!
Start by adding your raw tomatillos to a pot of boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse with cold water, this will help from burning your poor little fingers when removing the husks. My finger was not so lucky this morning when I tried skipping this step. Using a small paring knife, cut out the stems.
Your tomatillos will be various shapes and sizes and the coloring will vary. This is normal!
You can use your outdoor BBQ grill to blacken up your jalapenos, or you can place your oven rack in the top position and broil them on high until black. Flip once while broiling to ensure both sides are nice and toasty. This usually takes between 8-10 minutes in the oven.
Meanwhile in a blender add your garlic cloves and water and blend until it becomes a foamy white liquid (about 1 minute).
I wish you could smell this deliciousness. Garlic makes life so much better!
Pull the stems off your jalapenos and toss them into the blender, seeds and all. If you are a big wimp when it comes to spice, you can always remove the seeds – because that is where most of the heat comes from.
Now Add your cilantro.
Blend together for 10 seconds
Add the juice from one lemon into the blender, it helps to put pressure on the lemon with your palm and roll it against your kitchen counter before cutting. This will make the lemon even juicier and who doesn’t love a bright juicy lemon.
Add the tomatillos and blend together for about 1 minute.
Now for the creamy part! Add 2 avocados to the blender and blend for one additional minute.
Avocados will bring a cooling factor to the salsa and help tone down the acid and heat. If you find your salsa is too spicy for your liking you can always add an extra one of these bad boys to calm it down. Add salt to taste and serve. If you are serving with chips, don’t over salt as your chips may have a lot of saltiness already. 1-2 tsp should be plenty.
Say aahhh…
Versatile Creamy Tomatillo Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
- 12-15 to matillos
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/4 c. water
- 3 blackened jalapenos
- 1 handful cilantro
- 1 medium lemon
- 2 avocados
- 2 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Place tomatillos into a large pot of boiling water. Let boil for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, rinse with cool water, remove the papery outer husk and stems.
- Place oven rack in top position and turn broil on high. Place jalapenos on a baking sheet and broil until black, turning once. (8-10 minutes) Remove stems.
- Add water and garlic into blender and blend until it becomes a foamy white liquid, about 1 minute.
- Add the jalapenos and cilantro and blend for 10 seconds.
- Add the tomatillos and lemon and blend additional 1 minute.
- Add the 2 avocados and blend for 1 minute.
- Salt to taste, about 2 tsp.
Do you remove the rind?
Of the lemon? Just add the juice from the lemon!
This is the first time I’ve seen someone else put avocado in the salsa. My abuelita did it this way, and I love it. I later learned to “fry” the salsa. I get a thick bottomed pan, put in some lard or shortening and when it’s smoking hot, carefully pour the salsa in. The flavor explodes. I learned that from Rick Bayless.