Straight out of the ASP garden ~ freshly picked Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe that will make your head spin!
So when I say garden, I really mean flowerbeds.
For years I’ve pretended to have a green thumb, digging in the dirt, researching regional plants, perusing nurseries. Truthfully, I have no idea what I’m doing. I plant things in the wrong places, prune too much or too little, forget to water. I’m a BAD plant-mamma.
Giving up mid-season, I ALWAYS determine next year’s garden will be a masterpiece. Sigh…
A garden is never so good as it will be next year. ~ Thomas Cooper
This year I decided since my “landscaping” always looks wild and unruly, why not plant some produce in it. It couldn’t possibly make it look any worse. And you know what? It actually looks pretty good with the blooming squash blossoms, variegated heirloom tomatoes, Japanese eggplants, and ethereal tomatillos scattered about.
Tomatillos are such unique looking plants, with hearty tomato-like stalks, and little paper lanterns hanging everywhere. The tomatillos start out like tiny bulbs inside lime green lanterns. Then as they grow, they fill in the paper wrappings until they are tight. Full lanterns mean ripe tomatillos.
And they are very hard to kill easy to grow! After sticking them in the ground with very little thought, they have taken off.
Tomatillos have a vibrant tart flavor–almost like a citrusy apple, and are much firmer than tomatoes.
What can you do with tomatillos?
- Eat them raw with a sprinkle of salt and sugar.
- Add them to cold or hot soups.
- Thicken and flavor chili.
- Fry them like green tomatoes.
- Chop them for salads.
- MAKE TOMATILLO SALSA!
Tomatillo Salsa is delightful in a raw or cooked state, but I prefer mine somewhere in between. Roasting the tomatillos for a short time provides a lovely balance in flavor, leaving the raw edgy appeal, but also providing a certain charred quality. Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, is a true family favorite that is lighter and perkier than tomato salsas. The extra acidity holds up well against spicy heat.
This salsa verde recipe is unique because it contains avocados as well as tomatillos. The creamy consistency of the avocados combined with the zippy tomatillos is sublimely addictive.
In fact, it’s so addictive that I’ve developed this recipe to make FOUR QUARTS in one batch! Of course you could half it, but once your friends and neighbors taste this Tomatillo Salsa, they’ll be knocking at your doors holding bags of tortilla chips.
Plus, you can freeze this salsa for later. Although It’s not a great idea to “can” anything with avocados, this Salsa Verde recipe freezes very well. So long after your tomatillos have withered away, you can enjoy roasted tomatillo salsa and wish for warm weather again.
Recipe: Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lbs. tomatillos, husked and rinsed
- 2 large onions
- 10 cloves garlic
- 4 jalapenos
- 2 Tb. vegetable oil
- 4 tsp. ground cumin
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup packed cilantro
- 3 avocados
- 1 lime (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Peel and chop the onions into quarters. Place the tomatillos, onions, garlic and jalapenos on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil.
- Roast in the oven for 15 minutes—until the exteriors are blistered but the insides are still slightly raw.
- Meanwhile, half the avocados, remove the seeds, and scoop out the flesh.
- Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds. Discard seeds.
- Place HALF of the tomatillos, onions, jalapenos and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until mostly smooth.
- Add HALF of the cumin, salt, cilantro and avocado. Pulse until the avocado is pureed into the mixture. Taste for salt.
- Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
- If you desire an extra tart quality, add a bit of lime juice at the end.
Preparation time: 20 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4 quarts
Great pictures!
This sounds terrific! I never knew how they grew – very interesting and informative as always! Beautiful photos too. Wish I lived next door – I would bring the chips!
This looks so tempting. Your pictures are to die for!
Great website, great pictures!
I am not a great “plant-mama” either. Never thought of growing tomatillos. You seem to be doing OK! Great recipe! Perfect for summer parties!
How delicious this looks! If only we had tomatillos here in France…! Was it easy to grow them?
This looks fantastic. Great recipe.
I make salsa verde often, but never thought of the addition of avocado and cilantro. It almose sounds like a pico de gallo with tomatillos rather than tomatoes, which has been more throughly blended, of course. This is a condiment that I”d like to try.
That looks so good. Wonderful pictures as always!
thank you for the great info, I have eaten tons of tomatiollos , but never tried to grow them!!
love the pics!
Avocado in salsa verde…OH MY YUM!! This sounds terrific!
And I thought I was the only one not tending to a garden this summer! I too plant herbs and such here and there, but nothing full blown! Wonderful combination of flavors in this salsa and I like that it’s slightly roasted. I think I’ll make the full recipe and share the love with all my friends!
gorgeous and a perfect way to sass up summer salsa!
AH! That picture of your garden is GORGEOUS. What kind of camera do you use?/!
salsa looks colourful delicious
ooh, this recipe looks delish. thanks, Spicy!
Really great pictures!
I love tomatillos! This summer I attempted growing some of my own, but the green thumb didn’t seem to take effect.
It’s so much fun to live vicariously through your harvest, though. Not to mention, avocados + tomatillos = yum!!
Thank you for sharing about tomatillos and how easy they are to grow. I’m adding them to a list of produce I would like to try for next year…I need produce that’s easy as I’m terrible w/my outside & inside plants. I struggle for a green thumb!
I luv that you’ve roasted the ingredients for the salsa. Makes for fantastic flavors…will try this for sure next time I’m making tomatillo sauce for taquitos or huevos rancheros!
sounds good !
Okay, remind me next year that I need to grow tomatillos! Because we love them and it never occurred to me to grow my own. Fab salsa, especially with the avocado in there.
Looks yummy for my tummy. I could can it without the avacado though couldn’t I and then when I find ripe avacadoes all I have to do is add the salsa?
Hah I love the garden stories- I have similar issues! This recipe looks amazing… I never considered roasting ingredients for my salsa. I will have to try that!
Never would have thought to grow tomatillos! I grow tomatoes and peppers, but not them! What a great recipe! One of the best parts of Mexican restaurants is the salsa verde!
I can just imagine the wonderful flavors of that salsa with all of those roasted veggies. So beautiful!
Oh – I LOVE this! I read your post aloud to my husband about planting vegetables in your landscaping. I am horrible at landscaping and gave up years ago…..but veggies in with everything else? Awesome!
As alway I love your photos! Superb! I never thought about growing tomatillos, I will have to try them next year. My garden is full of grass and my yard is just dirt, that should tell you something about my skills.
So cool that you grew your own tomatillos! I took a break this year and joined a CSA – the wildlife wore me down last summer. Love the creaminess that the avocado must bring to this tomatillo salsa.
This salsa recipe is a marvel! The addition of the avocado sounds so good! I’m growing tomatillos too and last week I roasted a couple and threw them into some pesto, yum- simple way to use some up;-)
I don’t think I ever had tomatillos before….would really love to try! The salsa verde sounds and looks tempting!
Love this. And love the idea of jarring it for a rainy day. I have so many hot peppers right now that I’m trying to decide what to do with…. maybe a salsa is in order!
Beautiful. I love salsa verde with enchiladas!
Aimee
Wow! This looks really amazing. I’m blown away that you grew your own tomatillos!!!!
I’ve never had luck growing tomatillos, so kudos to you for that alone! The salsa looks great too, something new to do with avocados. Thanks!
You’ll have to send me a jar… you photography is really looking stellar.. well done you! LOVE it, I am a huge fan of tomatillos and ground cherries.
You’re right, tomatillos are really interesting looking and make for a great photography subject. And I never knew they were so easy to grow, good to know!
I LOVEEE salsa verde like this! And great idea to freeze it for later. Definitely going to try this one
not sure if there’s any science behind this, but I’ve found that (1) using a 50-50 tomatillo to tomato ratio gives the perfect sweet/tart flavor for our salsa, and (2) cutting them in half before roasting lets some steam escape, resulting in a less soupy, chunkier salsa. cheers!
This is fantastic. Love the mash up with the avocado and the green lanterns
Buzzed!
Love the fusion of avo and tomatillos!
Thanks for the great ideas, this is my second year growing tomatillos and last year I gave a lot away because I did not know what to do with them. This year I have plenty of plants going and lots of ideas but I also started pineapple tomatillos and I have NO idea what to do with them, any suggestions?
Wish I could have one of those little green jars, they look so good! Hard to kill, I mean, easy to grow sounds exactly like my kind of plant.
This year I have plenty of plants going and lots of ideas but I also started pineapple tomatillos and I have NO idea what to do with them, any suggestions?
I am making this right now – everything is in the oven. I can not wait to try it!!! I’m afraid I might eat it all myself!
These look very nuture!
I just made this and it is fantastic. It’s like if you puréed a Chipotle burrito and ate it. If I were on death row, I would ask for this to be part of my last meal.
Oh I’m so glad you liked it and THAT is a powerful complement. You just made my day.
I grew tomatillos many years back. They have an interesting plant. I love those papery husks. They are just wonderful.
The salsa sounds wonderful. Got to try that. Thanks for sharing.
I just made this today. My husband said it was yummy and I loved it. It ‘s a guacamole dip and salsa all in one.
Just took my first jar out of the freezer for a Halloween snack. Yummy! Thawed perfect. Thanks.
I saw this on pintrest and knew i had to make it and i did today. It is wonderful i ate so much but i bet the stuff cooling in my fridge is even better. Thanks. How long do you think it will last in the fridge?