Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by and taking time to check out our first recipe blog!

We are happy to share with you a favorite sauce in the Merry Folks family. We had a massive harvest of yellow tomatillos this years! At a local greenhouse, we found two types, Amarylla and Chupon de Malinalco.

Tomatillos have a beautiful tartness that is adaptable to many applications. For this recipe, the tomatillos are roasted (you can grill them or put them under your broiler) to bring out more complexity in the sauce. This makes it more complementary to robust flavors such as beef and lamb.

The tomatillos puree is then fried to mellow the tartness and concentrate the inherent sweetness of the fruit. The chicken stock adds richness to the salsa.

To add some balance, we recommend adding some dairy to the final dish you are serving, such as creme fraiche stirred into the sauce or melting cheese over your final product.

This is a versatile sauce! Use it on tacos, roasted meats, grilled vegetables, or tortilla chips.

We would only be here for the recipe if we were you, so follow along below!

Tomatillo Salsa

• 1 pound tomatillos, husk removed, rinsed
• 3 hot peppers*
• olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth**
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro or 1 tsp dried coriander seed, toasted and ground
• salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to high broil.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, adding 1 Tbsp olive oil. Toss in onions. Cook, stirring frequently until all onions are deeply browned.
3. Toss the tomatillos, peppers and garlic in 1 Tbsp olive oil and place on a large baking sheet. Place on top rack of oven. Let the tomatillos and hot peppers begin to blacken and blister on one side, about 6 minutes, then flip as best you can and blacken the other side.  Remove hot pepper stems.
4. Scrape all of the baking sheet contents and caramelised onions into a blender or food processor.
5. Pulse blender or processor to a rough puree
6. Heat skillet again to medium high. Add about a Tbsp of olive oil to the pan. Pour blended sauce in, all at once. Sauce will sizzle and bubble, so continue to stir constantly as sauce sears and darkens, about 4-5 minutes.
7. Stir in the broth, return to the boil. Simmer until it is thick enough to coat a spoon, 20-45 minutes. We put a bit of sauce onto a plate: if the liquid stays with the solids, it is ready; if the liquid leeches out, keep reducing.
8. Season to taste with salt.
9. Cool, store in an air-tight container in the fridge. for up to 2 weeks. This sauce can also be frozen for later use!

Notes: *Typically serrano peppers are used in this recipe. Adapt to whatever peppers are on hand, and your desired heat level. We choose depending on what ripens the same time as the tomatillos. This year we experimented with Chenzo, Chervena Chuska, Hot Hungarian Wax and Red Chilis.

** If desired, the base stock is adaptable to whatever you are cooking (if you choose to substitute it with beef, fish or even vegetable stock).