Deborah M. Schneider
Executive Chef  |  Partner  |  SOL Mexican Cocina
Recipe from ¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge

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You’ll wonder how you ever got along without tomatillo salsa—crunchy, acidic, full of flavor, just the right complement to rich food like grilled beef, pork carnitas, or shrimp.

Tomatillos look like hard little green tomatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter and wrapped in papery brownish husks. They are unrelated to tomatoes, belonging instead to the ground-cherry family and native to North America.

To prepare tomatillos, strip off the husks and wash well under warm water to remove the sticky film from the skin.

Makes 1 ½ cups

•  6 medium tomatillos, husked and washed

•  ½ cup diced white onion

•  1 large fresh serrano chile, stemmed

•  12 cilantro sprigs, stemmed

•  ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1. In a food processor, pulse the tomatillos until chunky. Add the onion, chile, cilantro, and salt and pulse to make a chunky, thick puree.

2. Taste for salt and add more as needed.