Sometimes my body craves a big, fat juicy medium-grill burger – as much as I love to savor every bit of that burger, the next day I’m usually looking for something to give my body a break from that beefy madness.
While I could definitely cook up anything from Mexican food to Swedish Meatballs, sometimes simple is best. In this case, I had some tomatillos in the very bottom drawer of the fridge, and my fridge was screaming for me to open up some space — one of the easiest and fastest ways to do that was to pull out the tomatillos, cilantro, a single jalapeño (or, serrano pepper), and onion and get busy.
Tomatillos work wonderfully to make a beautiful green chile sauce for chicken – or, used to make your favorite tamale recipe. You can also combine them with avocados to make a beautiful rich salsa that is perfect for game day.
Who knew that green tomatillo sauce would make the perfect sauce for pasta?
Get started by pulling the outer shell off the tomatillos and rinse them off very well – toss them in a shallow roasting pan along with a quartered onion, 3 cloves of garlic, and single jalapeño or serrano pepper. Place in a preheated 450 degree F oven for 10-13 minutes or until the tomatillos start to blister and the onion starts to brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and dump everything into the blender – add 1/4 C. water, and blend. It’ll take a second or two for the tomatillos to catch the blade, but then the mixture will blend up into this powerful green sauce. Pull off the lid and add in a bunch of cilantro and a teaspoon or so of salt. Blend shortly a second time until the mixture has combined well, and then mix with your favorite pasta recipe.
Top with fresh parmesan cheese and go wild!
Go a step further and add in some grilled chicken and top with fresh parmesan cheese – it’s delicious!
(If you don’t think your family will love the kick from the jalapeño you can also leave it out!)
Roasted tomatillos combine with onions, pepper and garlic to make a beautiful sauce with some kick to stir into your favorite pasta recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 lb tomatillos
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, stem removed
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt, or more to taste
- 1/4 C. water
- your favorite pasta
- Optional: grilled chicken
Instructions
- Remove the outer layer of the tomatillo and wash thoroughly.
- Place the tomatillos, quartered onion, garlic, and jalapeño or serrano pepper in a shallow baking pan or dish.
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Once heated, roast your baking pan for 10-12 minutes until the tomatillos are starting to blister/lightly brown.
- Remove from the oven, and remove the skin from the garlic. Place the tomatillos, onion, pepper and garlic in your blender along with 1/4 C. water. Blend until combined.
- Remove the lid and add the cilantro and salt - put the lid back on the blender and blend once more until the contents are well combined.
- Stir into your favorite pasta (spaghetti, penne, etc) and top with fresh parmesan. Go a step further and add some grilled chicken for variety.
- If not using the sauce immediately, pour into a canning jar and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
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