Salsa Verde

Now that it’s practically winter, our tomatillos suddenly ripened. We decided to use them and some peppers from the garden to make some salsa verde. Last time we made roasted tomatillo salsa, we kept it sweet as a sauce for some pork. This time, I wanted it to be more like a hot sauce or spicy salsa. We used about a pound of ripe tomatillos, a few pablanos, a couple of chopped onions, a handful of chopped garlic, and assorted peppers and chilis:

I gave them all a rough chop, added some olive oil, chopped cilantro, the juice of half a lime, and some salt and preheated the broiler to 450°:

Next, I roasted the mixture until the tomatillos released their juices. Once that happens, everything starts to boil instead of broil, so I usually drain off most of the liquid into a bowl and put the pan back in the oven. I took it back out when everything stared to brown around the edges. You want a good char — that’s what gives the salsa a smoky flavor. Here’s what it looks like when it’s done:

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Finally, I let the mixture cool a little. Then, working in batches, I blended the mixture and the reserved tomatillo juices (I also addd the juice from the other half of the lime) to make the salsa verde:

This came out good, but it was a little too hot. Next time, I’ll only use two pablanos.