Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

This is the first of many recipies from Mexican cuisine. My interest in Mexican food started with my parent's trips to Tasco, Mexico while growing up. This developed further with being allowed to work Fridays for several years in Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill Kitchen after many months of pestering. Along with Bayless's well worn Authentic Mexican (his first book) and his later one's, I also collected ideas from Diana Kennedy's books. This recipie is an amalgam from various of these influences, including Mark Miller's book on the Coyote Cafe.

Ingredients:
20 Tomatillo's husked
4 cloves garlic unpeeled
2 TBS olive oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
4 canned chilpotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 bunch chopped cilantro (about 1 cup)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 lime, juiced

Line a saute pan with foil and heat, put the tomatillos and the unpeeled garlic cloves in the pan, roast and turn till blackened some on the outside. Slip the peels off the garlic.

Put the tomatillo, garlic, olive oil and chilpotle peppers in a cuisinart and blend coarsely. Pour in mixing bowl and mix in the onion, cilantro, salt, and lime juice. May also add a pinch of ground allspice as a variation. Let flavors marry for an hour. If the salsa gets too solidified add some water to thin.

Serve with tortilla chips, pork, flank steak, or chicken. Also can use it as topping in tortillas made with the meats.

Notes:
Bayless does not use the onions or cilantro, so no raw ingredients, which lasts longer in the fridge. Kennedy omits the cilantro, but then cooks the sauce in a couple of TBS of olive oil, or lard. A good source of tasty smoky lard is a Mexican grocery store that cooks its own crispy pork skin, which renders the lard. I keep a half gallon plastic container of it in my freezer. I use it to add to black bean dishes, or when to saute items for a richer taste.

I was inspired to start the Mexican Series by Alden Griffith of Fernet Branca fame, to have a salsa to spread on his seared chicken livers (not just in jest, actually a recipie in Bayless's book: Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen for a use of the salsa with the livers), while sipping a Fernet Branca cocktail, or when he is in his adventuresome mood, 100% FB shots.

Enjoy