Thursday, May 5, 2016

Fresh Salsa Verde


Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Those that have been following the blog for awhile know that Mexican food is my favorite! I can't help it, I love those fresh flavors. Tomatoes and peppers and cilantro, oh my! And Mexican chip-dippers are one of my specialties. Salsa has been one of my favorite snacks since I was a kid. There were years where I snacked on chips and salsa every day. I'm not even kidding you. This lasted through college (there were classes all I could think about was salsa, but that's another issue entirely), and years after. Sometimes I take short breaks from salsa, but they never stick. Last summer, I ate guacamole almost every day from June until October. This summer however, I have a feeling it's going to be all about the Salsa Verde.


This is an extremely untraditional recipe for salsa verde, or tomatillo salsa. In fact, I found very few recipes for fresh salsa verde. The majority of salsa verde recipes are cooked. I've never really enjoyed traditional salsa cooked, so it got me wondering if that's why I've never been very fond of salsa verde. There's something about the crunch of the veggies and the crisp flavors of fresh salsa that make my world go round. 



It was time to experiment!


This fresh salsa verde is packed with green stuff. Fresh tomatillos. Fresh jalapeños. Fresh limes. Fresh cilantro. And yeah, garlic and salt aren't green, but you need those too! Also, you'll need onion, which somehow ended up MIA for the photo shoot. Whoops.


If you've never worked with tomatillos, I think you should. Today is a great day for it! If I can find them at my tiny, country-bumpkin grocery store, I suspect you can too. They look like little green tomatoes covered in a husk. The husk is peeled off, and I was shocked to find the tomatillos are sticky under the husk! Washing them post-peel is a must.  


I gave everything a rough chop and threw it in the food processor. A little bit of pulsing later-


And I had fresh salsa verde! 


I love the flavor! It tastes kind of like traditional salsa, but a little bit different. The hubby came home that evening, tried it, and proclaimed it "awesome". 



By the way, I got this little serving dish at TJ Maxx the other day. I couldn't resist using it for some photos. I love it! I'll definitely be serving something in it for my next party.


There you go! Fresh salsa verde. I highly recommend giving this recipe a go, especially if you are a Mexican-food lover like me. In fact, most of this salsa is going into the crock pot today with a couple of chicken breasts and some other seasonings for Chicken Tacos tonight. I'm really excited, plus margaritas will be on the menu! After all, it's not Cinco de Mayo with at least a little tequila! :-)

Have a great day everyone!


Recipe adapted from: The Chunky Chef

Ingredients (yields 2-3 cups):

8-9 tomatillos, peeled and roughly chopped
2 jalapeños, deseeded, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 handful cilantro
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Combine tomatillos, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, onion, lime juice, and salt in a food processor. Pulse until you achieve desired consistency. Add more salt to taste, if needed. Serve immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. 




If you like this recipe, you may enjoy these-






Jessica's Special Margaritas (which I will be making later today!!)

14 comments:

  1. That looks awesome! So fresh looking. I wish I had some tomatillos on hand to make this for my enchiladas tonight!

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    1. Oooh, I hope your enchiladas were still good. I ended up making tacos for Cinco de Mayo, but I really feel like I missed the enchilada sauce. I might have to make those this week :-)

      Have a great weekend Carlee!

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  2. The salsa looks beautiful and delicious!

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    1. Thank you Catherine! It was pretty delicious :-)

      Have a great weekend!

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  3. Chips and salsa is some of the best snacks when trying to lose weight as well! I love salsa verde but have never made it at home - I can use your recipe now!!

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    1. I totally agree! I've always been happy that is my snack of choice :-)

      I hope you enjoy the recipe Kelli, this recipe is way different than any other salsa verde I've tried, due to it not being cooked.

      Have a great weekend!

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  4. Hmmmm... I've never been a huge fan of salsa verde, and maybe it's the same reason for me. I will have to try this if I ever see a tomatillo! Honestly, I'll never see them around here, so I will have to put them on my city shopping list!

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    1. I got to thinking about it Kris, and I think we have a larger Hispanic population where I am at. I think this must attribute to why there's a lot of produce at my grocery store geared towards Mexican cooking. Lots of different peppers, tomatillos, tons of cilantro, etc. Although I will admit, we only get tomatillos May through about September. I've never seen tomatillos here during the winter. I hope you can track some down, I greatly prefer the fresh to the cooked.

      Hope you had a great weekend Kris! :-)

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    2. I have to tell you, I made this last weekend! We loved it! We found the best tomatillos at Walmart of all places! I was scared though that I wasn't buying a good tomatillo and the salsa wouldn't turn out. Wrong! It was so good, and this recipe is going to become a go to recipe in this house!

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    3. Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm always scared a recipe is going to fail when someone tries it, I'm so glad that didn't happen! I've made this several times this summer already, and I don't see that stopping! :-)

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  5. I'm drooling just reading this! I've never used tomatillos before but am thinking I need to try them in this. The flavor profile is right up my alley! Oh, and that chip thing...me too! ;) Have a lovely day!

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    1. I'd never worked with fresh tomatillos before, I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely a good experiment! I hope you enjoy the recipe :-)

      Have a great day Debbie!

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  6. Ooh! Thank you for posting this. I love salsa verde & cannot wait to try it.

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    1. I hope you enjoy the recipe Angie! It definitely doesn't taste like traditional salsa verde, and that's why I liked it :-)

      Hope you are having a great weekend!

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