As we’ve mentioned many times on this blog, Chele and I did quite a bit of gardening back in the warmer months. While the garden and its bounty are long gone and buried under a foot of snow right now, many of the recipes we concocted to make use of what we’d grown can still live on thanks to the marvel of the modern supermarket. Of all the things we grew in the 2020 edition of our garden, we found ourselves spending more time looking for ways to use up our tomatillos than we did on practically anything else. Part of this was due to planting two varieties of them (the wild variety that originally showed up as a weed in our first garden, and a spectacular cultivar called “Queen of Malinalco”). But it perhaps had even more to do with the fact that the plants produced SO MANY tomatillos that we simply couldn’t keep up. We were hauling out upwards of ten pounds of the things at a time, and it went on for months. (Note for 2021: don’t plant so many this year!)
When you have literal bucketfuls of tomatillos, one of the quickest and easiest ways to use them up en masse is to make salsa. Classic salsa verde calls for tomatillos (or sometimes green tomatoes), onion, garlic, cilantro, and hot chile peppers (usually serrano or jalapeño), making it a cinch to pull together. Needless to say, this lead to more than a few pots of spicy green sauce bubbling away on our stoves. The Queen of Malinalco variety in particular was a favorite for this. They are significantly sweeter and fruitier than typical tomatillos, which both accented the flavor of the peppers and mellowed out their heat.
But truth be told, salsa verde wasn’t the first type of salsa we tried making, nor did it end up as our favorite. The very first batch of salsa I made last summer was a bit of an experiment, born out of not having the appropriate peppers on hand. I had made a batch of green chili a few days prior, and had enough leftover ingredients to make a batch of salsa – well, almost enough. I had used up all of my fresh chiles. Not wanting to make a trip to the store, I decided to try using some dried pasilla peppers that I had hanging out in the cupboard. While the result was quite different from standard salsa verde, it turned out to be a major hit with us.
Since the pasilla peppers turned the entire salsa to a rich brown color, we couldn’t exactly call it “salsa verde” anymore. Since “salsa verde” literally translates to “green sauce”, I suggested calling this version “salsa marrón” instead (meaning “brown sauce”). Not wanting to tread on established territory, I decided to do a little research to see if that name was already taken. Turns out “salsa marrón” is a term commonly used to refer to what most English-speakers would call “brown gravy”. Since that would just lead to massive confusion, we are opting instead to go with the slightly more descriptive (if admittedly less snappy) name “tomatillo pasilla salsa”.
We love this as a basic salsa to dip tortilla chips in, but it is also fantastic as a topping for nachos, tacos, tostadas, and most other Mexican favorites. It also makes a fantastic enchilada sauce. If you have access to Queen of Malinalco tomatillos, we HIGHLY recommend them for this recipe, as we really feel that the flavor is far superior. If not, this salsa is still great with other types of tomatillo, including the typical supermarket variety.
Tomatillo Pasilla Salsa
Ingredients
- 1¼ lb tomatillos
- 1 white onion
- 2 pasilla chilies dried
- 4 cloves garlic
- 15 sprigs cilantro
- salt to taste
- water
- 2 tbsp oil avocado or olive
Instructions
- Remove husks from tomatillos. Rinse.
- Cut the onion into large pieces. Remove stems from chilies and tear into pieces.
- Place tomatillos, onion, chilies and garlic in a large pot. Fill the pot with water until the water is ¼" below the top of the vegetables. (About 4 cups)
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Pour contents of the pot into a blender. Add cilantro. Blend until smooth.
- Wipe out the inside of the pot. Add 2 tbsp oil and heat over medium heat. Pour in a small amount of the blended mixture (about ¼ cup) and cook for about 1 minute.
- Pour remaining mixture into pot. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 20-30 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.
- Remove from heat and stir in salt to taste.
Notes
- Dried pasilla chiles are available at Mexican grocery stores and in the Hispanic section of many large supermarkets. They are also available online.
- Fresh pasilla peppers are chocolate brown in color and rarely available for sale outside of Mexico. Some regions of the US sell fresh green poblano peppers under the name “pasilla”, but these are a very different chile. Poblano peppers do not make a good substitute in this recipe (you will end up with a very mild salsa verde instead).
- Pasillas are moderately hot, on par with jalapeno. If that sounds too spicy for you, remove the seeds before adding the the peppers to the pot.
- We REALLY like this salsa made with yellow Queen of Malinalco tomatillos. They are a bit of a rarity, but worth the effort to get a hold of (and grow like mad in the garden, if you have room for them). If you can’t get them, but want a small hint of what the difference is, make this recipe with regular supermarket tomatillos and add the juice of 1 lime and a Tbs or 2 of sugar.
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