Hyatt Riot Tomatillo Salsa

The Hyatts, my fella’s folks, brought us about a pound and a half of tomatillo peppers from their garden last week. I’d been meaning to make a foray into homemade salsa for ages, so this was a fabulous surprise. I turned to Mark "Food Matters" Bittman’s Tomatillo Salsa recipe, which I doubled, blend-ified, raw-ified, and tweaked for heat and flavor.

Hyatt Riot Tomatillo Salsa (raw-able, vegan)

Makes about 4 cups

4 cups husked, rinsed and quartered tomatillos. They’ll be a little sticky once peeled, the rinsing will take care of that.

2 large jalapenos, chopped

A couple cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup chopped white onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 a lime’s worth of juice

1/2 cup tightly packed fresh parsley (Fresh parsley or carrot tops are my go to sub for cilantro, which I just can’t get down with.)

Optional: 1/4 C pickled jalapeno or pepperoncini juice, if the heat in the peppers isn’t gonna do it for ya. Note that if you’re going for raw, the vinegar used to make most commercial pickled items was likely boiled at some point. Raw pickled foods are available, though (also totally better for you for), and of course, adding some extra kick via more fresh peppers, chili powder, wasabi, whatever, is encouraged.

Put everything in a blender and blend to preferred consistency.

Hey salsa, you seasick?
Cuz you are GREEN.

Typically, I do a lot of tasting when I blend or cook up something new, adding a little of this (or of that) to get the recipe where I want it. With this one, though, it was perfect on the first try. For me, this means that the flavors of the vegetables really come through for a green, planty taste, there’s just enough tang from the lime juice, and whoa nelly, is it spicy!

The next time the Hyatts grace us with some tomatillos from their garden, I may add a small avocado, a cucumber, a tomato, or some cumin to this recipe and see what happens. Not that it’s lacking on its own!