The same guy who taught me how to make Delta tamales also taught me how to make salsa verde. I was given the understanding that I was to use it as a “sauce” on things like chicken and pork and enchiladas, but over the years it has been pointed out to me that many folks eat it with chips like regular pico de gallo.
As near as I can tell, there are two main varieties of salsa verde: Italian and Mexican. The Italian version has no tomatillos, and reminds me a lot of chimichurri sauce. The Mexican version uses tomatillos.
3 Pints of Salsa Verde after pressure canning
Ingredients:
Tomatillos
Jalepenos, Tabasco, Cayenne, and/or other hot peppers including but not limited to Serrano, Chili de Arbol, Habanero or Scotch Bonnet, El Chaco, Bird’s Eye, Peter, etc.
Pimento or roasted sweet peppers
Lime juice
Garlic
Cilantro
Salt, Paprika, and Black Pepper
I was taught to include: Carrots, Celery, and Onions when it is fresh salsa. If you are going to be canning it, I recommend that you leave them out unless you add more of a vinegar brine and pressure can them. Even without them, I add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to each pint I pressure can.
Tomatillos should provide roughly 50% of the volume of the major veggies. Other quantities are to taste. Today I used enough hot peppers to make sure that this is spicy, I used 1 large lime for the juice, a whole head of garlic, and about 1.5 cups of chopped fresh cilantro. The amount of stuff I used eventually made 3 pints of salsa verde. As usual, the more variety of peppers you use, the more complex and interesting the flavor will be.
Blanch the tomatillos for 2 minutes in boiling water. Destem the peppers; prep the carrots, celery, and the onions. Peel the garlic.
Roast the tomatillos, garlic, peppers, carrots, celery, and onions for 20 minutes in a 500 degree oven
Add the roasted ingredients, the cilantro, lime juice, and spices to the food processor and pulse until you have a grainy purée. Let cool, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve as fresh ready to eat salsa, or baste over just about anything you’re cooking.
Food Garden Kitchen 