Quick Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

Tomatillos weren't on my radar for a very long time. Sure, I'd eaten salsa verde, and indulged in chiles verde at my favorite Mexican haunts. But, I never stopped to think about the little green nightshade veg that made my favorite dishes so very delish.

And then, one unusually dreary spring day, I found them in a seed catalog.
Mexican husk tomato, prolific bushy plant 3-4' tall and across. Green 2" sweet fruits are ripe when the fruits burst through husks. Blended with hot peppers to make traditional Mexican green sauce. 90 days from transplant.

My interest was picqued. I grew four tomatillo plants in my tiny backyard garden that year (and yes, those of you who know how prolific tomatillos tend to be can laugh). And I froze enough tomatillo sauce to last us almost two years.
We were eating tomatillo sauce on everything. Straight from the container as a salsa. Into the crockpot with pork loin. Mixed with roasted poblanos for chiles verde. Over the top of enchiladas. As an accompaniment for fish tacos. In chili. As a sauce for stewed chicken. You name it, we put tomatillo sauce on it. And life was good.

These days, I'm a bit more modest in my tomatillo growing habits (in fact, this year, I had to buy tomatillos from a woman at the farmer's market, since I hadn't planted any). But, I still make tomatillo sauce. And I still think it's one of the best things ever.

This sauce recipe is fairly quick to throw together. If I have time, I like to add a few sauteed onions and a bit of garlic, and give the sauce a bit of time to sear in a hot pan, which I think deepens the flavor and gives everything a bit more time to meld. But, sometimes I'm just looking for the fastest route to dinner, and that's when this recipe serves me well.

Quick Roasted Tomatillo Sauce


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Green Tomato Chocolate Cake

I always have mixed feelings when it comes to cleaning out the vegetable garden at the end of the season. On the one hand, I do get to a point where I've tired of all the work that goes into gardening. On the other hand, it's difficult to bid farewell to the fresh produce that has been growing right in my backyard for the past five months. Like many other gardeners, I do my best to save the last of the summer bounty by harvesting every possible vegetable before we get a hard freeze. Inevitably, that means I end up with a pile of green tomatoes. This year, we had some real lookers.Inevitably, some of the tomatoes will end up sliced, covered in cornmeal, and fried up in a skillet. But, others... well, they end up as chocolate cake. Yes, folks. Green tomatoes add a little special something to the dessert table. But, first you've got to puree them up a bit. And then, you want to get together some other key ingredients -- some flour (some of that great locally milled organic ww pastry flour, in fact), sugar, a couple of eggs, some baking chocolate, a bit of butter, and a nice dose of beer. And before you get on my case about how beer seems to make its way into EVERYTHING at Burp! these days... may I reming you that I live in Milwaukee, WI, one of the brewing capitals of the world. :) You'll want to trust me when I tell you that, between the beer and the tomatoes, this recipe really does make up one of the best chocolate cake recipes you've ever had. And here's a sample --right before we pop it into the oven. Once you get that cake tester to come out clean, you've got a cake that's just screaming to be layered with a bit of chocolate ganache frosting. So, that's exactly what I did. And what do you know? A bit of ganache and some white chocolate drizzle makes it into one looker of a cake. And you haven't even tasted it yet! This isn't a fudgy flourless chocolate torte. Or a sexy chocolate-filled molten cake. Or a rum-soaked diva of a cake. This recipe makes a fine old-fashioned cake. The sort of cake that your grandmother used to make. This cake is quite happily accompanied by a bit of vanilla icecream, but it feels truly at home with a nice tall glass of ice-cold milk. I'm just sayin'.

Green Tomato Chocolate Cake 

  ©BURP! Where Food Happens