It was with bittersweet emotions that I cleaned up the garden Saturday morning, but Friday night’s freeze officially had finished it. Much to my surprise and delight I was able to pick a large basket full of tomatillos that were still in good condition. I have a strict no tomatillo left behind policy.
With my abundance of tomatillos, I normally make batches of green sauce for Enchilada Suizas. This time, I decided to add a roasted salsa to the mix. To be honest, it was really out of pure laziness. It doesn’t get much easier than tossing a bunch of ingredients on a baking sheet under the broiler for ten minutes and then blending ’em all together. Easy, but so good! The charred bits add such a nice smokiness to the salsa. Again, it was a situation of why didn’t I make this sooner.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed and dried
- 2 fresh whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 hot peppers
- salt to taste
Directions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- Spread out in a single layer the whole tomatillos, garlic cloves and hot peppers.
- Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven, about 4 inches away from the broiler.
- Turn the broiler to high and slide in the baking sheet.
- Broil about 5 minutes. Pull out the sheet and turn over the vegetables. Place back under broiler for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Remove from the broiler.
- Peel garlic and pull tops off the hot peppers.
- Place all the ingredients into a blender and purée.
- Pour into a large bowl and season with salt to taste.
Sure you can serve this salsa at room temp with chips and be completely content. Why stop there? I made this salsa with a bigger destiny in mind. It was to be the sauce for slow-cooked pork. I made the salsa on Friday. Then on Saturday morning, I brought out the Crock-Pot, poured the salsa over four pork chops, poured in half an oatmeal stout and cooked on low for eight hours. The result was amazing! Needless to say, I made three more batches of the salsa and stuck them in the freezer.