Salsa Verde
Salsa verde is a ubiquitous condiment in Mexican cuisine, often served with tacos or enchiladas. Green sauces made of roasted tomatillos and chilies have existed since the time of the Aztecs, and they remain, little changed, a staple of modern Mexican cuisine. Despite their name, tomatillos [1] are only distantly related to the tomato—they are closer cousins to gooseberries. Their high pectin content make them an ideal base for sauces and salsas.
Ingredients
2 lb tomatillos
1 white onion, quartered
8 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
2 limes
2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, or to taste
1 tsp salt, or to taste
Start by removing the tomatillos from their husks and wash them thoroughly—their skins are often quite sticky. Cut the tomatillos in half and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet, along with a quartered white onion. Preheat your oven broiler for 5 minutes.
When the oven is up to temperature, place the sheet tray on a middle rack and broil the tomatillos and onions for about 5 minutes, or until the tomatillos have softened and the skins are just starting to char.
Remove the sheet tray from the oven and let cool. Halve the peppers and de-seed them if desired [2]. Place the roasted tomatillos and onions in the blender, together with the peppers, garlic cloves, and cilantro (stems included!). Depending on the size of your blender, you may want to work in batches. Pulse the blender repeatedly until all the ingredients are finely chopped and well combined. We want the final salsa to still have some texture, so don’t blend it completely smooth!
Season the salsa by mixing in fresh lime juice, and season with 1 teaspoon salt or to taste. Serve the salsa immediately. Any extra salsa verde will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, and the salsa will also freeze well.
Substitutions
You can adjust the number and heat of the chili peppers used in this recipe to your taste—just pick green ones to preserve the color of the salsa! If you want a version with no spice, you can use a green bell pepper. You can also use purple tomatillos in this recipe. Purple tomatillos tend to be a bit sweeter than their green counterparts, but otherwise taste similar.
[1] Tomatillo can be read as “little tomato” in Spanish. In the native Aztec (Nahuatl) language, it is tomatillos, not tomatoes, that are referred to as “tomatl,” while the more common tomato is actually referred to as “xitomatl.”
[2] The pith surrounding the seeds of a chili contains much of the capsaicin, and therefore the heat. De-seeding peppers therefore reduces their spice level.
Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 5 min Total Time: 15 min
Difficulty: 1/5
Heat Sources: oven
Equipment: blender
Servings: 3 cups
Ingredients
2 lb tomatillos
1 white onion, quartered
8 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
2 limes
2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, or to taste
1 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
1. Remove the tomatillos from their husks, wash them, and cut them in half.
2. Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes. Place the tomatillo halves and onion pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet.
3. Broil the tomatillos and onions for about 5 minutes, or until the tomatillos have softened and are starting to char.
4. Remove the tomatillos and onions from the oven and let them cool. Meanwhile, halve and de-seed the peppers, if desired.
5. Put the tomatillos, onions, cilantro, garlic, and peppers in the blender, working in batches if necessary. Pulse the blender repeatedly until the ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed.
6. Season with lime juice and salt to taste, then serve.
