Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with Avocados

 Appetizers, Dips and Spreads, Mexican, Vegan, Vegetarian  No Responses »
Sep 192016
 

Since I’ve been growing Tomatillos in the garden, I’ve been looking for new recipes to use them in. I found a couple interesting recipes on the web and adapted them to my own tastes and came up with this one. Grilling the Tomatillos, onions and peppers adds a delightful smokiness to the salsa, so you really need to make an effort to grill them. I made this recipe for our annual trip to the Vintage Illinois wine festival at Mattheissen state park and it disappeared quickly even with a lot of other food around, which let me know it was a hit. This is an interesting alternative to Guacamole, and a nice change when Tomatillos are in abundance.

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Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with Avocados

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • Approximately 2 pounds Tomatillos, husked and washed
  • 2 large Jalapeno peppers, quartered lenngthwise, seeds and pith removed
  • Approximately 1/4 of a large red onion, large dice
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 3 or 4 ripe avocados
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • 2 Red peppers, I use hot hungarian
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • Olive oil
  • Granulated garlic (to taste)
  • Pepper (to taste)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Sugar (to taste if needed)

Instructions

  1. Halve and remove stem from the Tomatillos.
  2. Put the Tomatillos, onions and peppers in a bowl and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and olive oil, mix well to coat evenly.
  3. Grill this mixture on a very hot grill, in a grill pan until the vegetables start to brown a bit. If the grill isn't very hot the Tomatillos will turn to mush before they start to brown.*
  4. When the mixture has cooled a bit, puree it in a food processor along with the garlic and lime juice.
  5. Peel and seed the Avocados, and dice to about 1/2 inch cubes. Combine in a bowl with the Tomatillo puree. Add the chopped bunch of the cilantro to taste.
  6. Seed the red peppers and remove the pith, chop fine and add to the mixture.**
  7. Mix well, taste, and add salt as needed. You may want to add some sugar depending on the tartness of the Tomatillos.
  8. Serve with cornchips.

Notes

*You could probably roast the vegetables in a 450 degree oven, but the grilling really adds a lot of flavor, so grill them if you can.

**Usually the grilled Jalapenos don't add a lot of heat so I add hot peppers to get a bit of spice in the sauce. The red peppers also add some color and flavor to the salsa, so use sweet ones if you want the dip very mild.

https://karneyfamilyrecipes.com/2016/09/19/roasted-tomatillo-salsa-with-avocados/

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Tomato Salsa

 Appetizers, Dips and Spreads, Mexican, Sauce & Condiment, Vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian  No Responses »
Oct 242014
 
Tomato Salsa and Salsa Verde with pictures of Roma Tomatoes and Tomatillos.

Tomato Salsa and Salsa Verde.

This summer I grew tomatillos and made a great Salsa Verde. At the same time I made some traditional Red Salsa from the Roma tomatoes in the garden. This is a cooked salsa and closely approximates the salsa we are served at our favorite Mexican restaurant. The trick is to peel the Roma tomatoes. I’ve used canned tomatoes and it’s almost as good. In fact you are probably better off with good canned Roma tomatoes than the typical anemic Roma tomatoes that you find in the grocery stores off season.

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Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ lbs. (Approx. 8 large) Ripe Roma tomatoes or canned whole peeled Roma tomatoes.
  • 1/2 large white onion or more to taste, chopped coarsely
  • 4 large cloves garlic
  • 2 jalapeno peppers or more to taste, chopped coarsely
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 tablespoon fresh oregano
  • 3/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Instructions

  1. If you are using fresh tomatoes, wash tomatoes and slice off the stem end. Cut an “X” through the peel on the other end. Put the tomatoes into rapidly boiling water. Leave them in a couple of minutes until the skin starts to split and remove them with a slotted spoon.
  2. Let them cool a bit and then pull off the skin.
  3. Place peeled tomatoes or canned tomatoes, garlic, and oregano into a food processor. Process until pureed.
  4. Place the mixture in a heavy pan over high heat.
  5. Finely chop 1/2 onion and 2 jalapenos in the food processor and add to the pan.
  6. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the mixture starts to thicken, about 15 - 20 minutes.
  7. Remove from heat. Cool and then add cilantro and salt to taste. Add additional chopped jalapeno and onion to taste.

Notes

I've used canned tomatoes and it's almost as good. In fact you are probably better off with good canned Roma tomatoes than the typical anemic Roma tomatoes that you find in the grocery stores off season.

https://karneyfamilyrecipes.com/2014/10/24/tomato-salsa/

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Salsa Verde

 Appetizers, Dips and Spreads, Mexican, Sauce & Condiment, Vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian  No Responses »
Oct 242014
 
Tomato Salsa and Salsa Verde with pictures of Roma Tomatoes and Tomatillos.

Tomato Salsa and Salsa Verde.

I found some tomatillo plants at the garden center this spring and planted them in the garden, specifically because I had never used tomatillos in cooking and I knew that this would force me to do it. The plants produced prolifically and i perused the web a bit and combined and modified a couple of recipes and came up with what everyone thought was a pretty good Salsa Verde (Green Sauce).  We used it as a dip with chips, but it could be served over chicken or other Mexican recipes.

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Salsa Verde

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ pound tomatillos, husked and quartered
  • ¼ large white onion or more to taste, chopped coarsely
  • 4 large cloves garlic
  • 2 jalapeno peppers or more to taste, chopped coarsely
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 3/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Husk & wash tomatillos. Place tomatillos and garlic into a food processor. Process until pureed.
  2. Place the mixture in a heavy pan over high heat.
  3. Finely chop 1/4 onion and 2 jalapenos in the food processor and add to the pan.
  4. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the mixture starts to thicken, about 15 - 20 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat. Cool and then add cilantro and salt to taste. Add additional chopped jalapeno and onion to taste.
https://karneyfamilyrecipes.com/2014/10/24/salsa-verde/

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Calabacitas

 Mexican, Side Dish, Vegetable, Vegetarian  No Responses »
Sep 272012
 

Calabacita is Spanish for squash, but in New Mexico it can mean a dish made from squash. This is a recipe from New Mexico that came via Char Welch, whose sister lives in Santa Fe. Of course I modified it a bit, I always do.

The reason I got the recipe is because we have a wonderful new grocery store in town, Heinens, out of Cleveland, Ohio. A couple of weeks ago they were roasting Hatch chili peppers in their parking lot. I didn’t know a Hatch pepper from a hole in the ground, but I bought a couple of pounds of them, anyway. They were roasted, but the skin needed to be scraped off and the seeds removed, which I did. I used some in a couple of recipes and froze the rest.

Char bought a bunch, since she knew what they were, a staple of southwestern cookery, and a product of the town of Hatch, New Mexico. That’s why she gave me the recipe.

I will usually try recipes a few times before I put them on the website, but this one is a winner so here it is. I didn’t use Hatch peppers in the recipe, but my home-grown Hungarian banana peppers.

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Calabacitas

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium zucchini (or mixture of green and yellow)
  • 2 Tbsp. of olive oil
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 12 oz. bag frozen corn
  • 4 or 5 roasted chili or Hungarian or chili peppers (Mixture of sweet and hot according to taste)
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup cheddar, jack, or mexican cheese blend

Instructions

  1. Peel & chop the peppers.
  2. In a large skillet, saute the onion, garlic and zucchini in the oil until they just starts to brown.
  3. Thaw the corn under warm water and mix it in along with the chopped peppers.
  4. Cover and heat through.
  5. Mix in the cheese and serve.

Notes

The roasted peppers really add to the taste. Put the peppers on a grill and roast until they are thoroughly blackened. Then place them in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow them to cool. At this point, it will be easy to remove the skins. Then remove the stem end and seeds and chop.

You can used canned, diced chili's if you don't want tot go to the trouble of doing your own roasting.

https://karneyfamilyrecipes.com/2012/09/27/calabacitas/

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Guacamole

 Appetizers, Dips and Spreads, Mexican, Vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian  No Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This is a healthy, south-of-the-border-favorite. Freshly made guacamole is a real treat. The secret is getting ripe Avocados that are not too ripe. Ripe Avocados will be darker colored and will feel slightly soft when squeezed. Over-ripe Avocados will feel mushy.

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Guacamole

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 5 or 6 ripe Avocados
  • 2 or 3 Garlic cloves, pressed or mashed
  • 1/2 to 1 C of fresh Cilantro leaves (chopped)
  • Juice of 1/2 lime.
  • 2 or 3 Tbsp. of chopped shallots or onion
  • 1 small ripe tomato (chopped)
  • 1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Soak the onions or shallots and the garlic in the lime juice with some salt in a large bowl. This will avoid the bitterness that they can sometimes cause.
  2. Cut the Avocados in half lengthwise and remove the seed.
  3. Scoop the Avocado out of it's skin with a spoon and add it to the bowl.
  4. Mash the Avocado with a fork or a potato masher.
  5. Use the fork to mix in the rest of the ingredients.
  6. Serve with corn chips.

Notes

The tomato, cilantro and jalapeno can be omitted if you don't like them. I personally feel that tomato and cilantro are necessary, but make it the way you like it. Quantities listed here are a starting point and can be varied according to your taste.

https://karneyfamilyrecipes.com/2011/12/15/guacamole/

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