I got the best text message from J today.  He said that he had a tomatillo plant for me! Call me naive but I didn’t really think that tomatillos could be grown in BC. Since they’re known for being used in Mexican cuisine I assumed that need extreme heat to grow well. Apparently I am wrong. They require the same conditions as regular tomatoes. Since its still Junuary (June, but it feels like January) and rainy I am a little worried but they will definitely be fun to grow.

 

 

Coincidentally I had purchased some tomatillos on the weekend. I made a light roasted salsa to top grilled steak. It was fabulous and just thinking about it is making me very excited to get this new plant into the ground! This Salsa would be great on any kinds of meat as its light in flavour, slightly sweet, and has a bit of kick. I also put some on my eggs the next morning. YUM

Ingredients

  • 5 tomatillos, husked
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • ½ small red onion
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 -2 tsp chipotle sauce or 1 tsp powder.
  • 2 tsp honey
  • Salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350. Rub tomatillos with olive oil, place on baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 20 min, or until soft. Place all ingredients into the blender and puree until smooth. You can also use a food processor once the tomatillos have cooled. Taste and adjust.

 

 

If you want this even spicier, then chop up a jalapeno, de-seed and add that to the blender as well. I ended up adding a bit more Smokey green hot sauce I bought in Mexico. I found that I really liked the Smokey flavour against the sweet flavours in the sauce.

I bought my chipotle sauce in Mexico as well, but you can purchase cans of chipotles at the grocery store. I buy them and freeze them individually so I always have some on hand.