Tomatillo-habanero salsa (with a bonus variation)

[Mosca]

12 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 decent sized habaneros
1 small or medium onion
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lime
a big hunk of cilantro, maybe 2-3 Tsp
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste, start with 1/2 tsp

Halve the tomatillos top to bottom, halve the habaneros, and quarter the onion. Leave the garlic cloves in their husks. Roast everything under the broiler on a foil-lined baking sheet, skin side up, until the tomatillos are browned. Remove the garlic cloves from their husks, and put everything into a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.

Let it all cool down (in the refrigerator, still in the processor or blender) and taste for balance. If you want it hotter, roast up another habanero and buzz it in. If it’s too hot, roast up a couple more tomatillos. Add more salt or lime juice to suit yourself. If you want more onion, garlic, etc., same. I actually started with 2 cloves of garlic, and added 3 more.

Makes close to a quart. It is really excellent!




Bonus variation:

Take about a cup of the salsa and add half an avocado. Buzz that up in the processor or blender. It is equally excellent! Just different. I really don’t prefer one over the other.




This would work well with serranos for less heat, or jalapeños for less than that, or poblanos for almost no heat; but start with about half a small poblano, they’re pretty big.

[barelfly]

As I read, I thought, this would be excellent with Avacado! And bam!!! You did it!

love it! Thanks for sharing!

[Henrik]

Thanks for posting Mosca, this really sounds delicious! Now I'm gonna go and see if I can find any tomatillos in Sweden.

[Mosca]

It took me four supermarkets to find them in Wilkes-Barre! (None at Weis, Carone’s, or Wegman’s, finally got a hit at Price Chopper.)

[Mosca]

Edited to add: I’m getting forgetful; I left out the big handful of cilantro I chopped into it before processing. I just tore off a big hank from a bunch, maybe 2-3 tablespoons’ worth.

[captainlee]

Just reading the title I knew whose post this was. I like tomatillo anything but this looks great.

[Mosca]

Just reading the title I knew whose post this was. I like tomatillo anything but this looks great.

Im actually very calculating when I make stuff like this!

My very first concern: is it easy? Second concern: is enough better than what I can buy in the store to make it worth it? Because let’s face it, there are some pretty good store products out there. For example: making pickles is easy, but buying Claussen is hard to argue with. Third: how much does it make, and how often am I going to want it and use it? Am I prepared to eat tomatillo salsa every day for a week? (Yes.)

This is pretty easy, without a lot of prep, or mess and cleanup; the only thing extra is cleaning the food processor. And it doesn’t take a lot of time, and there aren’t many ingredients. The ingredients themselves are the main hangup; I don’t normally have tomatillos, I have to search them out, and limes, cilantro, and habaneros are usually purpose-bought in that I have something in mind. (I tend to have hot peppers all the time, but usually serranos because habs are pretty expensive here.)

The easiest salsa of all is also the one that is the best, and the one where there is the most difference between home made and store bought: pico de gallo. For me, there is no reason at all to ever buy pico in the store. Even store made fresh pico doesn’t hold a candle to home made. And you don’t need Roma tomatoes; just use any tomatoes. It might be a little watery, but you won’t care.