Easy Oven-Roasted Salsa Verde: Cooking With Courtney

From Feed the Soul Blog:

Do you have a favorite treat that just screams “weekend”?! Maybe for you it’s ice cream or cheeseburgers or a stiff cocktail. For me, it’s roasted homemade salsa with fresh tortilla chips and a cold beer.

There’s something so satisfying about the process of making roasted salsa verde from scratch, with fresh ingredients that you picked out yourself. To each their own but honestly, a lot of jarred salsa that you buy at the grocery store tastes like this watery, marinara sauce-like concoction that I’m not a fan of. Nothing beats homemade, especially when you’re working with such a hassle-free recipe!

This zesty salsa with refreshing cilantro has a kiss of smoky char, a kick of spice and a robust sweetness that comes from zapping richly flavorful produce in the oven: tomatillos, tomatoes, onion, garlic and poblano and jalapeno chile peppers. Blend it all up in a blender or food processor with that cilantro and lime juice, and you’re done!

P.S. If you’re nervous about using two chiles, I don’t think you need to be — the seeds, which contain the most heat, are removed. But you can always start with half of each chile and add more as you go!

Skip to the full recipe.

For some reason, I was intimidated by the idea of making salsa verde with tomatillos for a long time. But when I actually gave it a shot, I discovered that it couldn’t be easier. Maybe it was because I only kinda sorta knew what tomatillos were and how they tasted.

The initiated can skip this paragraph, but for any newbies out there, salsa verde (AKA green salsa) is made with tomatillos: small, firm fruits that resemble lime green tomatoes, cloaked in a thin, dry, wrinkly, papery husk that you’ll remove before cooking. You’ll find them in farmers markets and the refrigerated area of the produce section. Roasting tomatillos in the oven is my favorite way to cook these babies. It really brings out the tangy, bright, sweetness of this amazing, complex, versatile fruit. Add them to pork, chicken, asada, soups, sauces… all kinds of stuff.

My favorite way to enjoy tomatillos — and most veggies, really — is letting them get all blistery and charred in the oven or on the grill. But alas: I live in a barbecue-free complex, so get ready to fire up that oven, baby!

Get the complete recipe, including ingredients, instructions, tips and more photos, at feedthesoulblog.com.

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