POLLY’S FAVORITE TOMATILLO RECIPE
This is bar-none my favorite tomatillo recipe. It stands much improvisation. It’s great on enchiladas, but also over pork loin for chile verde, and over fried tofu for the vegetarian version.
2 lbs. tomatillos
4 medium jalapenos or other hot peppers, peeled, seeded and minced
6 T. cilantro, chopped
1 t. salt
½ c. onions or to taste
Peel the dry skins off the tomatillos, wash them, and boil them in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes until they are just soft. Drain, puree them in a blender or food processor, and put them in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients. Simmer gently for about 40 minutes. Use as dip for chips, enchilada sauce, or chili verde sauce for meat, tofu, or vegetables. From The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two by Anna Thomas
Ernesto’s Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa
3 chipotles or moritas 1 cup chopped onions
1 large tomato, broiled or charred over flame 2 cloves of garlic
1 pound tomatillos (10 or so), blackened 1 ½ cup chicken broth
½ to 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
3 teaspoons chipotle en adobo, pureed 2 tablespoons cilantro
Soak the chipotles or moritas in boiling water for 15 -30 minutes depending on their dryness. Broil or char tomato and blacken the tomatillos. Fry the chopped onion in an ungreased frying pan until slightly browned but not burned. Add the garlic at the end so that it doesn’t burn. Place soaked chipotles, onions, garlic, tomato, tomatillos, half the broth, salt vinegar, the adobo and cilantro in the blender. Puree. Sinner the salsa in a saucepan , adding the rest of the broth. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning, serve warm.
| Salsa de Chile Pasilla de Michoacan (Michoacan Pasilla Sauce) This sauce comes from the northern part of Michoacan. It is traditionally served over boiled rice and topped with crumbled cotija cheese, with corundas or uchepos and creme. Recipe by Diana Kennedy.
I N G R E D I E N T S I N S T R U C T I O N S Remove the chiles with a slotted spoon and drain on paper toweling. In the same oil, fry the tomate verde and garlic until lightly browned and soft inside, about 5 minutes. Put the water into a blender jar add the tomate verde, peeled garlic, and crumbled, fried chiles with their seeds and veins. Blend for a few seconds to a textured puree. Heat the same oil in the pan, add the onion and fry gently until translucent, without browning–about 1 minute. Add the blended ingredients and salt and fry, stirring form time to time and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the sauce has reduced and thickened a little and is well seasons–about 5 minutes. |
||
Tomatillo Green Salsa
3 medium size tomatillos (husked and washed)
2 cloves garlic
3 canned chipotle chiles, seeded
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat a heavy duty skillet over medium
heat. Place the tomatillos and the unpeeled garlic cloves directly on the skillet. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning frequently, until tomatillos are soft and blackened in spots.
Peel the skin off the garlic cloves. Place garlic cloves, tomatillos, chiles, and salt in a blender with two tablespoons of water. Puree salsa,
adding more water if necessary. Serve at
room temperature.
Variation 1:Add a teaspoon of the sauce
from the canned chiles to the blender for a smokier sauce.
Variation 2:Use canned tomatillos and skip the roasting step.
| Chicken in Green Sauce with Piloncillo Source: The Mexican Gourmet Serve 6 |
||||||||||
| The sweet-and-sour combination of the acidic tomatillos and the piloncillo (light molasses) in the sauce is unusual in Mexican cooking-and delicious. | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| RECIPE METHOD | ||||||||||
| Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the chicken until lightly browned. Add the onion and cook until translucent, stirring constantly. | ||||||||||
| Roast the tomatillos and chiles on a comal or cast-iron griddle, then puree them in a blender with a little water. Add the tomatillo mixture and piloncillo to the pan and simmer until the piloncillo melts. Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 30 minutes. | ||||||||||
| Serve hot, garnished with the plantains. |
| Enchiladas Verdes Source: © Cooking Light Magazine Yield: 4 servings |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If you eat all of the Double-Herb Roasted Chicken, use a prepackaged rotisserie chicken (available in the meat section of the supermarket) for this recipe. Asadero, originally from Mexico, is a semisoft cow’s milk cheese with a bright, pungent flavor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other necessary recipes: Double-Herb Roasted Chicken and Potatoes |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RECIPE METHOD | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TO PREPARE SALSA VERDE: Discard husks and stems from tomatillos; cut into quarters. Combine tomatillos, 1 1/4 cups broth, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and chopped jalapeno in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until tomatillos are tender. Cool slightly. Place salsa verde in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth or mash with a potato masher. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add salsa verde; cook until reduced to 2 cups (about 1 minute). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TO PREPARE ENCHILADA FILLING: Combine chicken and next 9 ingredients (chicken through black pepper) in a large bowl. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TO ASSEMBLE: Spread 1/2 cup salsa verde in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Arrange enchiladas, seam sides down, crosswise in dish. Pour remaining salsa verde evenly over enchiladas. Cover and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve with sour cream, and garnish with sliced jalapeno, if desired. |
GREEN MOLE OR PIPIAN SAUCE (Serves 4)
This is another Mole Sauce that should be mentioned.
It is a green, pale thick sauce made from ground pumpkinseeds, green tomatoes, lettuce leaves and fresh herbs.
Like mole Poblano it is used to stew or cook fowl and meat and has a delicate but deliciouly memorable flavor
and perfume. This mole is very similiar to the class of sauces called "PIPIAN".
A "PIPIAN" is a sauce made of ground pumpkinseeds, nuts, spices and chiles and also called
Green Pumpkinseed Sauce. I often find these two terms interchanged, although a Pipian does not contain
the chocolate necessary to qualify a sauce as a mole. A Pipian is a fricassee of fowl, meat or pork prepared
in a pre-Hispanic sauce that surrived through the years of the Spanish conquest-
INGREDIENTS
STEP 1
2 each........................whole ducks
STEP II
8 leaves..................romaine leaves
8 each......................tomatillos
2 cloves.................fresh garlic
1 each......................onion
10 sprigs................fresh cilantro
2 sprigs.................epazote
2 each......................avocado leaves
4 each......................radish leaves
1 tsp........................cumin powder
2 each......................chiles serranos
1/2 cup..................water
STEP III
1 cup..........................duck fat
2 cups.......................green pumpkinseeds
4 ozs.........................peanuts
3 cups......................chicken stock
STEP 1
Oven roast the ducks at 350 degrees F, cool and and reserve one cup of the duck fat.
STEP II
Grind the tomatillos, lettuce, garlic, onions, cilantro, radish and avocado leaves, epazote, cumin, chiles and
the water until you get a very smooth paste.
STEP III
Grind the pumpkinseeds and peanuts. Heat the duck fat till hot in a frying pan. Add the smooth puree from
above and stir constantly until the mixture is well cooked. This should take about 5-6 minutes and be careful
not to scorch this mixture. Then add the pumpkinseeds and peanuts and continue until you acheive a soft,
smooth paste. Make sure the chicken stock is hot and add it to this paste, stir until it comes to good boil then
turn it off and let it stand.
TO SERVE THE PIPIAN
Cut ducks into serving size portions and place these portions into the sauce to steep for 15 minutes.
Then serve in a very hot serving dish accompanied with warm tortillas.
| Green Tomatillo Enchiladas
(from Las Posada in McAllen, Texas) |
12 tomatillos (green tomatoes) 2 cans chicken stock 2 cloves garlic 1 medium onion 1/2 cup chopped cilantro salt and pepper to taste 8 oz grated Swiss cheese 8 corn tortillas, softened (how to soften tortillas) |
| 1.Place tomatillos and enough chicken stock to cover in a saucepan. Add garlic, onion and cilantro. Simmer until tomatillos are soft. Puree mixture in blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Take softened tortillas and spoon about a tablespoon of the grated cheese in each tortilla. Roll up and place open side down in baking dish. Reserve some of the cheese to sprinkle on top of the enchiladas. 3. Cover enchiladas with the tomatillos sauce and sprinle with the reserved cheese. 4. Bake at 325 degrees until enchiladsa are thoroughly heated and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. |