Tomatillo salsa (Salsa Verde)

[T.G]

A mild (sometimes) tangy green salsa that I use both as a salsa and as a simmer sauce with cubed chicken or pork.

1 lb tomatillos
3 cloves of garlic
a baseball sized yellow onion
4 or so serrano peppers
1 bunch of cillantro
a couple limes
salt

Remove the husk (lantern paper) from the tomatillos and rinse. Place whole tomatillos in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos and discard water.
Toss the garlic in a food processor (I use my Vitamix) and run it a bit to chop it up. Coarsely chop up the serranos and onion, toss them in, add the tomatillos and let it rip for a few moments until they are broken down into a thick, chunky sauce (caution for the Vitamix & Blend-Tec owners, if you run it too long, you'll pulverize the seeds too, not a big deal flavor wise, but the visual aspect of the salsa looks all wrong without them). Either add the cillantro leaves and pulse a few times or pour into a bowl and hand chop the leaves and fold in - kind of depends how effective your food processor is and what texture you are looking for. Add lime and salt to taste, it should be a bit runny and on the sour side. Thin with water if necessary, tomatillos are very high in pectin and if this salsa is too thick, it will set up like jello in your refrigerator.

Like any other fresh salsa, if you don't eat it within 1-2 days, use it as a simmer sauce or a pan fried cooking or cook it in some other way because as a fresh salsa, it's done.


Alternately, you can cut the tomatillos in half and roast under a broiler until they brown.

I've been known to occasionally substitute a small handfull of green Thai chillies for the serrano pepper.