This Year’s Tomatillo Salsa

We have yet to figure out what in the world happened to our garden. It’s been a strange year all the way around, beginning with New Year’s Day. Some of you may recall that central California had an insane rain storm to usher in the new year, with levee breaks and massive flooding. We even had tornados in March. Strange year indeed.

Spring was wet. In bygone years we’ve planted our garden as early as mid-March, but by the third week in April (right around Earth Day), the garden is in. Typically we end up with more tomatoes than we can possible use. Our friends, family and even the Church Food Closet benefits from the bumper tomato crops. The peppers and Tomatillos also produce more than we can use. Bags upon bags of peppers and Tomatillos wind up in the freezer so we can make salsas all winter long.

This year the garden went in late – it didn’t get planted until Memorial Day Weekend. This was in part because of all the rain and in part because we took an earlier than usual vacation to Yellowstone over Mother’s Day. We had decided that leaving the garden unattended so early in its cycle might not be a good idea, so planting was postponed. That decision, coupled with the strange weather – a late summer heat, then tropical storms that didn’t give us much in the way of rain, but lots of days without any sun – resulted in a less than productive garden. We didn’t have any Tomatillos to speak of until recently. The tomatoes were small, lacking in that true tomato flavor, and some of the pepper plants have yet to yeild any peppers to speak of. Our Peter Pepper Plant finally gave up one pepper, which we used as a garnish for our Spicy Taco Bean Dip at a recent family get-together.

For that same gathering, I was able to harvest enough Tomatillos for a batch of Salsa. This year’s Salsa is a bit different. Since the tomatoes aren’t really giving us much, the salsa is 100% Tomatillos and Peppers – nothing else. No tomatoes, no onions. Because each year is different, with different peppers from the garden, our salsas vastly very in heat, ingredients and intensity from one year to the next. This year’s first batch was long overdue, but oh so worth the wait.

Tomatillo Pepper Salsa Verde
2 Habanero Peppers
6 small Jalapeno Peppers
12 Serrano Peppers
8 Scotch Bonnet Peppers
3 Hatch Chilies
25 Tomatillos
Habanero-Garlic Olive Oil as needed
Salt to taste

Stem peppers. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Center rack in the oven, heat broiler element. Broil peppers for 10 minutes, turning as needed to allow peppers to blister without burning. Set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, puree peppers in a blender. Scrape out pepper paste, set aside.

Peel Tomatillos, rinse under cold water. Split Tomatillos in half. Place cut-side-down on the same foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with just a little Habanero-Garlic Olive Oil. Broil Tomatillos for about 10 minutes, turning as needed to blister the tops without burning. Set aside to cool.

Drain most of the liquid from the roasted Tomatillos. Place Tomatillos in the blender, puree. Add pepper puree to the Tomatillos. Season with just a pinch of salt. Blend well.

Transfer salsa to a non-reactive glass bowl. Salsa is now ready to serve with chips, or to use as desired on deviled eggs, as a relish on hot dogs and burgers or in scrambled eggs. Delicious and full of heat any way you use it.

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