Recipe: Tomatillo Sauce and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (repost)

TOMATILLO SAUCE AND
ROASTED TOMATILLO SALSA FOR JERSEY
Board: Copycat/Restaurant Recipe Requests at Recipelink.com
From: Gladys/PR 1-5-2003

Tomatillo Sauce
Serves 6

Just perfect on top of a rattlesnake and pine nut quesadilla or alone with some blue corn tortillas.

1/2 avocado
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 4 oz. can tomatillos, crushed

Remove the pit from the avocado and scoop the fruit out with a soup spoon. Place the avocado, the sour cream, and the tomatillos
in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Store in a sealed plastic container in the refrigerator. Best used the same day as prepared, but will last for up to 4 days.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with serrano chiles,
roasted onions and cilantro
Source: Rick Bayless

"Relish" to most of us, I think, conjures expectations of tang. So think of this salsa as a variation on "relish."

for 2 cups
for 4 cups
for 6 cups

Tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 pound (about 7 medium)
2 pounds (about 24 medium)
3 pounds (about 21 medium)

Fresh serrano chiles, stemmed
4 to 5
12 to15
12 to15

White onion,
1 small
1 large
2 medium

sliced 1/4-inch thick
4 ounces
8 ounces
12 ounces

Garlic cloves, peeled
3
6
9

Water
about 1/2 cup
about 1 cup
about 1 1/2 cups

Chopped fresh cilantro, loosely packed
1/3 cup
2/3 cup
1 cup

Salt
about 1 teaspoon
about 2 teaspoons
about 1 tablespoon

Sugar (optional)
about 1 teaspoon
about 2 teaspoons
about 1 Tablespoon

Heat the broiler. Lay the whole tomatillos and serranos on a broiler pan or baking sheet (line it with heavy-duty foil for the greatest ease in cleaning and collecting the juices). Set the pan 4 inches below the broiler and let roast until the tomatillos are softened and splotchy black in places (the skins will split), about 5 minutes; your goal is to cook the tomatillos through while they roast, which means they'll have begun their transition from light bright green to olive color on the top side. With a pair of tongs, flip over the tomatillos and chiles and roast the other side for another 4 or 5 minutes or so. Set aside to cool. Turn the oven down to 425 degrees. Separate the onion into rings and, on a similar pan or baking sheet, combine them with the garlic. Set in the oven. Stir carefully every couple of minutes, until the onions are beautifully roasted (they're going to look rather wilted and translucent, even have a touch of char on some of the edges); the garlic should feel soft and look browned in spots. Total roasting time will be about 15 minutes. (If you like smoky flavors in your salsa, try roasting the onion and garlic on a perforated grilling pan over a moderately low charcoal fire.) Cool to room temperature. In a food processor, pulse the serranos (no need to peel or seed them) with the onion-garlic mixture until moderately finely chopped, scraping everything down with a spatula as needed to keep it all moving. Scoop into a big bowl, then, without washing the processor, coarsely puree the tomatillos and their juice. Stir them into the bowl. (If you're making the largest quantity, you'll have to do the tomatillos in two batches.) Stir in enough water to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency-in Mexico they like this salsa spicy and pretty runny, the kind of salsa you dribble on rather than scoop up with chips. Stir in the cilantro. Taste and season highly with salt. Taste again and, if you wish, add just enough sugar to take the edge off the tomatillos' very bright tanginess. If you're planning to use your salsa right away, simply pour it into a bowl and it's ready, or refrigerate it and use within 5 days.