Green Goddess of Salsa: Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

An impromptu trip to La Venadita, a Mexican market about 15min up the freeway lead us in an enticing chase towards a South American culinary adventure and a first time creation of roasted tomatillo salsa.

Tomatillos have always intrigued me. Who are these green jewels wrapped up like a cocoon, and is it really a green tomato?

Ahh..well it turns out that tomatillos are a somewhat close cousin of the tomato, in fact, “tomatillo” in Spanish translates to ” little tomato”.

This excursion lead us in another world that we were unfamiliar with. A small and very inexpensive Mexican market, being the only customers that did not speak Spanish. And I liked that.

Various vegetables and fruits, hot and mild peppers, plantains and ceviche filled this market.

The announcement of  “Nuevo y siete” being called out to the people in line and the whiff of fresh baked “pan” circulated every so often.

4-6 tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed and quartered

1 red onion, quartered

1 jalapeno, quartered (seeded if you prefer)

1 garlic bulb, topped cut off

1/2 c water

Small bunch of fresh cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

1 tbsp honey

Juice of 1/2 of lime, fresh

Olive oil for drizzling

Few dashes of Hot Sauce

Salt and pepper

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with foil.

2) Take all prepped vegetables and place on baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper. Turn to coat.

3) Take your garlic bulb and lightly drizzle olive oil on top of where you cut the top off. Wrap up in foil on its own and place on baking sheet.

4) Roast in oven for about 30 min, until all vegetables are caramelized and tomatillos are very soft to touch.

5) Once vegetables are done cooking and cooled for a few minutes, place everything in a blender.

6) Unwrap the garlic bulb and squeeze out roasted garlic.

*This is the best part! Be careful, the garlic is VERY hot! I also use this method for crusty bread and  as an alternative to anywhere else that calls for raw garlic.

7) Add about 1/2 c water, garlic, cilantro, honey, lime juice and hot sauce to vegetable mixture.

Puree until well blended.

*Adjust to desired consistency.

The oven certainly worked it’s magic on these glorious tomato cousins. The tomatillos became soft and luscious with a bit of tartness. This matched perfectly with the roasted onions and jalapeno, all offering earthy sweetness. I took the seeds out of the pepper, which allowed me to add hot sauce, next time I will keep them in. Cilantro and lime perked up the sugars and the small amount of honey delivered a beautiful stream of smoothness.

Gracias, La Venadita! We’ll be back!

Enjoy!