Charred Tomatillo Salsa
This is one of my favorite salsas. It’s sweet, smoky, roasty, spicy, acidic and bright, with a hint of bitterness that I find addictive. Eat it with chips as an easy appetizer, on top of shrimp and green chiles, brisket nachos, or my Mexican pork burgers.
Watch Andrew make this recipe:
Andrew Zimmern Cooks: Charred Tomatillo Salsa
Ingredients
- 12 tomatillos, about 1 1/4 pounds, husks removed
- 4 scallions
- 1 whole head of garlic
- 1 whole onion
- 2 serrano chiles
- 3/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste
Instructions
SERVINGS: MAKES 4 CUPS
Light a chimney full of natural hardwood charcoal. When it’s white hot, dump into the bottom of a charcoal grill. Tap the coals lightly to get rid of some of the ash.
Place the tomatillos, scallions, whole garlic, onion and Serrano chiles directly on the coals and cook, turning frequently with tongs, until charred on all sides. This should take about 5 minutes for the tomatillos, 2 minutes for the scallions, 20 minutes for the whole head of garlic, 15 minutes for the whole onion and 5 minutes for the chiles.
Place the cilantro, scallions, chiles, charred tomatillos and 2 cloves of the charred garlic (reserve the rest of the head of garlic for another use). Peel the blackened skin off of the onion, cut it in half and add it to the blender. Season with salt. Add the olive oil, coriander, cumin and lime juice. Blend until pureed. Serve!
