Do The Salsa!

Well, not the actual dance BUT this salsa recipe looks so good that you may feel like doing a bit of salsa dancing after you try it!

Right now, on the market, we have tomatillos, from Anchor Acres! Laurie wanted to share this recipe so that you could see how simple using the tomatillos can be!

Salsa making (2)
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Laurie Cuddington

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Pamela Bowshier

Here’s my attempt at a salsa “recipe” based on how I make salsa, based on how I learned from my Mexican friend in San Diego. I will try to be thorough, but don’t let that make you think that it’s difficult to prepare, because it’s NOT, it’s super simple. :-) Read through before starting! lol

Start with about 1-2 pounds of tomatillos. Remove the husks and stems – this is very easy. I slide the husks up from the bottom (where they are starting to open anyway) and then kind of grab the stem with the inverted husk and give a little twist and the stem comes right off with the husk. (The description is WAY more complicated than the doing.) Now wash the tomatillos – they have a slightly sticky coating that will not completely wash away but that’s okay, just gently rub off what comes off. Now put the tomatillos in a pot of water with enough water for them to move around and float or sink – whatever they choose to do. Because once they are ready one of the signals is that they will float, but if they float a bit at first, that doesn’t count. Anyway, bring that pot to a boil and also put in your choice of hot pepper – if you want a mild salsa, you only need one small slightly hot variety of pepper, but if you want the salsa more spicy, then put a second and/or hotter pepper. The pepper(s) should just be washed but that’s all. Now if you have room in your pot, as the pepper(s) and tomatillos get a head start, you could add your tomatoes (maybe half the amount of tomatillos that you are using). If you don’t have room, just wait til the first set of veggies is done and you can do the tomatoes after (same water). So you are watching for when the tomatillos float and look sort of lightly cooked, softened up a bit. Same for the pepper(s). As they are to that point, fish out the ones that are done and put them in your blender (if it is not very big, you will have to do separate batches). But with the pepper(s), set them out onto a plate or cutting board and cut out the stem. You can also remove some of the seeds if you need to lower the heat. Smell the pepper if you want to get an idea of how spicy it is. Put maybe only a half pepper in the blender to start – you can always add more but you can’t take any out! Tomatoes will also need stems removed when they are ready for the blender. They need much smaller cooking time than the tomatillos and peppers (or even uncooked completely if you want). Now what you also want to put in the blender are an onion or two (quartered is fine) and garlic. I like a whole bulb of garlic but you can decide how much garlic you like – remove the husks from the cloves and just drop the cloves in the blender with those hot veggies. You also need to add salt (maybe a tablespoon?) and sugar (also tablespoon?). Oh and cilantro! Put some leaves of fresh cilantro if you have it. Of course there are other things you could put, too, but this is what I do. :-) There is plenty of liquid in the veggies themselves that you probably do not need to add any. (This does make a “runnier”-style salsa which I like, so I don’t make any effort to drain the normal veggie juices.) (However if you actually did need to add more liquid, ladle some out of the veggie cooking water – only add a teeny bit at a time til you see how it is.) So what is VERY IMPORTANT is that you blend up what you have put in the blender and then TASTE it!!! You can taste it plain and you can taste it on a tortilla chip or whatever you’re wanting to serve it on, because you want to see how it is! Then, you adjust – more garlic, more hot pepper, more salt, more sugar, more onion, ETC – little bits at a time and re-blend and re-taste until it is perfect. Tasting is part of the fun. :-) But, if you are saving for freezing (this salsa freezes very well) or serving to guests, I don’t recommend double-dipping, haha