Tomatillo Salsa

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Everyone once in a while, you just fall into a rut with cooking. You find a few meals you can make well and keep repeating them. And while I personally feel there's nothing wrong with that - heck, I have one night designated a week for one of our family favorites - it can be exciting to try something completely different and new. Cue the tomatillo: from the outside it looks like a ball of leaves, from the inside it looks like a green tomato. From the taste of it, it can be nothing farther than leaves or tomatoes. It's vibrant and fresh, firm-fleshed with runny seeds, small but boy does it pack a punch.

Few things can really showcase the beauty of the tomatillo like a salsa. Keep things simple, just a dash of lime juice, jalapeno for spice and cilantro to play off the brightness of it all. I've made a version with and without the onion and personally I would leave the onion out next time, just to make sure our star ingredient really shines. Make a good sized batch of this and keep it in a bottle in your fridge. It's perfect for dipping chips, serving alongside quesadillas or something a little more interesting that I'll fill you in on tomorrow insha'allah.

Tomatillo Salsa
adapted from Daisy Martinez

• 1 pound fresh tomatillos
• 1 large Spanish onion (about 12 ounces), cut into large chunks (about 3 cups)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 packed cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
• 1/2 jalapeno (seeds and all if you like heat)
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• Kosher or fine sea salt

Directionns

Pull the husks from the tomatillos and wash them under cool water until they no longer feel sticky. Cut them into quarters and put them into the work bowl of a food processor. Add the onion and garlic and process until smooth. Add the cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice and process until the jalapeno is finely chopped.

Scrape the mixture into a small saucepan. Season lightly with salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is boiled off and the salsa looks relish-y, about 15 minutes. Cool before using. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. If refrigerated, you may want to add a little salt and/or lime juice to the salsa before serving.