Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

 

Every few years I plant tomatillos. They tend to be easy to grow and produce prolifically. This year has been no exception in my garden, although the plants are particularly robust, bushing out all over their raised bed space, while the fruit production is just moderate based on my previous experience. That still means that there are plenty of tomatillos to work with.

I grilled some, along with onion and chile to make a grilled version of green salsa. The piquant sauce gets a subtle, smokiness from charring the vegetables on the grill. I use a gas grill and a grill pan, although you could grill your vegetables however you like.

You also could roast the tomatillos and onions in the oven if you can’t or don’t want to use a grill. You could skip the charring altogether, but you should cook the tomatillos in some way. Simmering them in water until they are tender would work, as would using canned tomatillos, which are already cooked. As long as I felt like it was still grilling season, however, I was happy to do things that way.

 

You may get some variation in this salsa depending on how tart your tomatillos are and how spicy your chile pepper is. It would probably be simple to adjust the flavors with more or less lime juice, or even a bit of sugar, honey, or agave nectar, if it needs some sweetening. You can also adjust the amount of chile you add to suit your taste for spiciness.

This salsa is a delicious mix of the complex flavors of tomatillo, chile, cilantro, and lime. It’s great anywhere you like to use your favorite salsa: with tortilla chips, on a big plate of nachos, in burritos, on quesadillas, on a bowl of beans. You don’t need me to tell you this. Salsa is fun stuff, and since this one also uses the grill and the garden, I found it even more fun! And delicious!

 

Coming up: I have a cookie recipe I need to tell you about, but I can’t find my notes on it, so I’ll have to make more cookies. The sacrifices I make for my art….

Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

Adapted from The Best International Recipe

1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and sticky residue scrubbed away

½ medium white onion, cut into wedges

1 medium green chile pepper

½ teaspoon coarse salt

1 clove garlic, chopped

½ cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon lime juice

1. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place the whole tomatillos, onion wedges, and whole chile pepper in a grill pan on the grill. Alternatively, cover the grill rack with foil and place the tomatillos onion and chile on the foil.

2. Grill the vegetables, turning them occasionally, until they are charred all over and soft. Remove each item from the grill when it reaches the desired state and continue until everything is finished.

3. Place the grilled tomatillos and onion in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender jar. Add the salt, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. Process until smooth.

4. Remove the stem from the grilled chile and discard. Chop the grilled chile very finely. Stir into the tomatillo mixture. Taste the salsa for seasoning and add more salt or lime juice if needed. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes about 2 cups. The salsa may get very thick upon standing. You can stir in some water or lime juice if needed.

Other recipes like this one: Spicy Cilantro Mint Pesto, Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint, Tomato and Cucumber Pico de Gallo

One year ago: 12 September Favorites

Radish Cilantro Salsa

 

I wanted to make this chunky salsa back when radishes were new in the market. They start appearing when it’s still too cold to even think of summer vegetables, so they’re exciting. Of course, I didn’t have enough, or perhaps any, cilantro growing in my patio herb garden yet, so I decided to wait. Luckily, now that I have buckets of cilantro, a second crop of radishes, and even a lot of daikon radishes are in the farmer’s market, so it was a good time to try this out.

This condiment/snack has the potential to be rather assertive, what with all the radishes involved, but I found they were well tamed by lots of cilantro, some green onions, a dab of honey, and lime. I used both red radishes and daikon, and it does take some time to dice them small enough to make something spoonable or scoopable. I found it was worth the effort, though, for the zesty crunchy salsa that results.

 

So far, I’ve just been eating this stuff with chips, but I think it would be great served anywhere you like a chunky salsa or pico de gallo, like on this tostada, in any taco, or on a plate of nachos. It might also be good tossed with salad greens, or noodles. My first batch won’t last long enough to try most of those ideas, of course. I’ll have to keep making it (along with this similar recipe) to perk up simple dishes all summer long.

Radish Cilantro Salsa

Based on a recipe in Naturally Nourished by Sarah Britton

1 ½ cups finely diced radishes, any variety

½ cup finely chopped green onion

½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh chile pepper

Zest and juice of 1 lime, plus more juice to taste

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium-size bowl and toss well to coat. Taste for salt and acid, and add more salt or lime juice as needed. Serve as you would pico de gallo or salsa.

Makes about 2 cups.

Other recipes like this one: Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint, Tomato and Cucumber Pico d Gallo

Cucumber Salsa

Now begins, it seems, the truly lazy days of the year. Not only does the heat and humidity keep me from really wanting to tackle anything too difficult, there also are so many fresh and fantastic foods coming into the markets (and in my garden!) that don’t need much altering to make into simple, tasty dishes. It’s just too easy to toss fresh things together into a salad or with some pasta or into a wok. It’s just too easy to vary a favorite dish by garnishing it with some seasonal variation.

The problem with such a breezy lifestyle is that one’s recipe blog can get neglected. And a neglected blog is a sad thing, wasting away somewhere in the ether. So, I’ll tell you about the cucumber salsa I made. It was much like other salsas and I served it on black bean tostadas much like these.

I made this crisp and refreshing salsa (probably more like pico de gallo in its chunky consistency) with some locally-grown hot-house cucumbers, although I’m looking forward to making it with some of the garden-grown cukes that are sneaking into the farmer’s market. I won’t waste your time with the sad story of the pathetic progress of the cucumbers I planted, but I will tell you that my mint and cilantro are growing well, and I was able to use those to make this.

There’s plenty of lime juice and fresh chile to make this salsa tart and spicy, although you could adjust that to taste. For me it’s mostly about the cucumbers and herbs, and since this is so low in calories and high in fresh vegetables, I feel like I can endlessly scoop it with tortilla chips. I’m not perfect. It also was very nice on my tostadas, and this recipe will probably tide me over until fresh tomatoes arrive. And, with any luck, when they do arrive, I probably will be wasting your time with the story of how they grew so well in my own garden.

Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint
Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 medium garlic clove, peeled

½ teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups finely diced cucumber (peeled if desired)
½ cup finely diced red onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely diced (remove seeds and ribs for a milder salsa)
3 tablespoons lime juice

1. Coarsely chop the garlic and sprinkle the salt over it. Make a garlic salt paste and place it in a small bowl.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Makes about 3 cups.

Another recipe like this one: Tomato and Cucumber Pico deGallo

One year ago: Homemade Cottage Cheese and Pasta Carbonarawith Garlic Scapes and Garlic Chives