Salsa Time! Bring the Chips (Part 2)

Salsa Verde

November 14, 2021

The last of the Salsa Roja is in the water bath, it is time to start on the Salsa Verde. Salsa Verde is a green salsa traditionally made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes. If you are not familiar with tomatillos, they are in the same family as goose berries and taste (to me) like a cross between a tomato and a lime. Once you remove the dry husk from them, they look like green tomatoes. Where I live (Greater Houston Area) tomatillos are pretty much available year round. I do not have an original recipe that this was based off of, because I looked at 3-4 different ones and took the element from each that I was interested in. I also do not use any dried chilis in this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2.5-3 #s of fresh tomatillos
• 3 serranos (seeded); halved; if you want hotter leave the seeds.
• 1 jalapeño (seeded); halved; if you want hotter leave the seeds.
• 1 green bell pepper; quartered. Today I am substituting poblano peppers.
• 1 red bell pepper; quartered
• 1 small yellow onion; quartered
• 1 small red onion; quartered
• 1 small white onion; quartered
• 1 head of garlic (just the cloves)
• 1 lime; quartered (As needed)
• 1 TBSP coriander seeds
• 1 TBSP cumin seeds
• 3 TBSP Avocado (or Olive Oil)
• Salt
• 2/3 cilantro bunch (stems and leaves)

Directions

Gather all your ingredients. Make sure you have everything.

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Preheat oven to 425° F.

Remove the husks, wash the sticky residue from the tomatillos and quarter them. I know that without the husk, they look like green tomatoes, but they are not.

Add the onions, tomatillos, peppers, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and oil to a sheet pan.

Sprinkle with approximately 1 TBSP of salt.

Roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes until the onions start to blacken on the edges.

Scape everything into a stock pot on low heat. Puree with stick blender/ boat motor. Taste. Add cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste.

Remember that you will most likely be serving with salted tortilla chips, so keep that in mind with regards to the salt level. I dip the chips in to taste. Doesn’t get a spoon dirty that way. Simmer until desired thickness. Keep tasting. (That is the best part is the quality control)

If you are going to be canning the salsa. I recommend that you start warming up the canning pot and water at this point, so you are not waiting on it later.

Once the desired thickness is reached, I start canning the salsa. Due to the acid level of salsa, I use water bath canning. Normally, I fill quart jars for my enchiladas sauce base, pint jars for household use, and I fill cup jars for my MIL (as requested) and to give way.

Taste: It starts out fresh, citrus notes, then there is heat, that does not grow.

Since, I tried splitting the salsa, I canned 1 quart and 2 cups (I still have 1 quart from a previous canning day to take). For sterilization instructions, visit https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_01/sterile_jars.html. I wash my jars and lids, dry them, and put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 200° F. I water bath can the salsa for 15 minutes. Check to make sure that you can cover the jars with at least an inch of water in the pot you are using for the water bath before you start. I do enough canning that I bought a 22 quart stock pot for canning.

While I was canning this batch, I noticed the water looked like it had salsa in it, and was concerned that I had not closed a jar all the way, or that all the jars were bad. When I started to pull the jars, I found that one had broken. I have never had that happen. It could have been that the jar was damaged before canning that I did not see or that it had come in direct contact with the pot. I do not know, but the rest were fine.

If you do not want to can, the salsa should last in the refrigerator for up to a month.