Salsa Verde

Chicken enchiladas and Salsa Verde (green sauce) is one of those classic flavor combinations.  I have never made Salsa Verde before, mostly because you seldom find tomatillos in New England, so you can image my excitement when at the grocery store in preparation for “Mexican night” I saw a pyramid of tomatillos perched above a mound of avocado.  With no real recipe in mind I walked the isles grabbing a bit or this, oh, and maybe a bit of that.  At the end of the day I ended up with this: a hearty, earthy, salsa with a zing.       

Ingredients

1/2 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and washed

4 dried chile de arbol

1/2 c cilantro, chopped

1 white onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 T butter

12 oz chicken stock

Salt to taste

Method

1. First, shuck your tomatillos.  If your tomatillos are fresh, like mine were, they will be enclosed in a lovely husk of leaves.  To shuck, just peel them off.  It is really quite simple except they are quite sticky! Give them a rinse once you remove the husk.  

2. Once you have shucked the tomatillos put them in salted water with the chile de arbol to cover and bring to a boil.

3. Boil for about 10-15 minutes until they tomatillos are tender and the skin is pulling away from the flesh.  Drain and pick the stems off the chile de arbol.

4. Put the tomatillos, peppers, cilantro, onion and garlic in a food processor and blend until nearly smooth.  

5.  Heat the butter in a pan over medium high heat, add the purée and saute until it begins to brown and makes the room smell like heaven (about 4-5 minutes).  

6.  Add the stock, boil, and reduce to medium.  Simmer until the salsa just coats the back of a spoon.  

7.  Transfer to another container and plunge it into an ice bath to halt the cooking process.  Once cool you are free to eat it, bathe in it, or save it for later use.