New to Tomatillos? Easy Roasted Salsa!

At the CSA farm share pick up yesterday there was a bin of tomatillos "for the taking." I was intrigued. They were a beautiful shade of green. I'd seen them in the grocery store on occasion but had never prepared them myself. I took one pound home with me and set out to find an easy recipe for tomatillo preparation initiation.

I found one called Tomatillo Salsa Verde. I thought this one would be a good one to try as I have delighted in this style of salsa in the past, so I'd know by taste if I was off the mark. This recipe was simple, easy to prepare, and delicious. The key was roasting the tomatillos first, getting the skins to be brown. The carmelization imparted a mellow tone to the salsa, which I have experienced at times as being too acidic. A tasty experiment I look forward to duplicating. I thought I'd have some of this salsa to freeze, but given it's popularity in our family at lunchtime, we will be lucky to have any left tomorrow!

Enjoy!

CSA share week 8/9/11 - The Motherload and recovering from last week

Last week, coming off of four days with my husband away while in the midst of my son's week-long creative arts day camp, I was ill prepared to take on food preparation. A rookie mistake. I will remember next year that once August has arrived, all focus and time must be made available for two or three days of food processing.

Nonetheless, once my husband arrived home he was a wonderful help to get things taken care of. We got 12 servings of lentil curry (using the summer squash, zucchini, Asian eggplant) and no less than 20 servings of eggplant "Farmer John" (breaded eggplant without the Parmesan cheese and named in honor of our CSA's intrepid agrarian) prepped and into the freezer. We also experimented with making zucchini-sweet potato fritters. A yummy success made yummier with maple syrup in which to dip them.

This week, the tomatoes have arrived. I don't know if this is the peak. Judging by the number of green cherry tomatoes still on the plants, I think the peak will be next week or the week afterward. I did make the season's first batch of gazpacho. A bit too spicy to eat with ease for me. But tasty and enjoyable with a large glass on limeade on hand.

This week's share includes the following:

• 1 large black eggplant
• 4 summer squash
• 1 zucchini
• 1.5 lbs heirloom tomatoes
• 2.5 lbs "modern" tomatoes
• 1/2 lb arugula
• 1/2 lb mixed salad greens
• 1 Asian eggplant
• 2 green bell peppers
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bunch basil
• 2 heads lettuce
• tomatillos
• PYO 1 quart cherry tomatoes
• PYO unlimited flowers

The food processing plan for this week includes baba ghanooj, tomatillo salsa, banana zucchini bread with chocolate chips, masaman curry, and lots of green smoothies. We plan to enjoy this week's arugula wilted as a bed for this week's fish share catch-of-the-day fillets and short grain brown rice. Bon appetit!