Salsa Verde

My sister and I have come to love tomatillos, and each created a salsa verde so delicious we decided to have a salsa verde standoff. She kept telling me how she had the best salsa verde recipe and I said, ?No, I have the best salsa verde recipe.? So there you have it, the start of an honest to goodness competition.

We decided to ask our extended family, a neutral party, which recipe they liked and why. Both recipes were prepared and they voted on their favorite. Well, you guessed it; the recipe you see here is the one with the most votes. The most comments made about it were that it was fresh, chunky, and delicious, (their words, not mine). The best part of this winning recipe is that it is the easier of the two! If you can boil water you can make this salsa. NO roasting chile required.

My husband claims it is now his favorite salsa, as he feasts on a mountain of it with a bag of tortilla chips. This light and fresh salsa compliments so many dishes. One batch lasts about one week in my home, maybe. We enjoy it over eggs for breakfast or tacos for dinner. Try it over nachos topped with queso fresco for a snack. The peppers add just enough bite to satisfy those of us who enjoy spicy food.

Ingredients

3 cups water

8 tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed

2 serrano peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed and roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves

¼ onion, chopped

Handful of cilantro

½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Boil tomatillos for about 15 minutes. Remove tomatillos from the water and allow them to cool before blending.

Roast the garlic cloves in their skins in a dry pan until skin is charred, about 10 minutes. Cool and remove skins.

In a blender place the cooled tomatillos, chopped peppers, garlic, onion, cilantro, and salt and blend for about 1 minute.

Salsa should be chunky. Add more salt if needed.

Photography by Jeanine Thurston

Pottery by Cherie Mahon available at cmahon@myawai.com and in the Santa Fe Art District at CoArt

Pssst?don?t forget to order the 2011 Muy Bueno Calendar here