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“Make this,” Brian asked. “Please,” he added.

I didn’t care about the magic word. I had looked at the recipe and was skeptical. He was insistent.

I relented, and we made this salsa from James Peterson’s Sauces. I must say it is hot: both temperature wise and chili wise. Brian loves it and I find it good, and certainly different from anything I have ever attempted. I have used Sauces many times, and I think of it as reference for all those French concepts of intense flavor based on meat, poultry, fish, or veggies. I was surprised to find this blazing gem in the book, and Brian seized on it like a brownie.

This is a cooked salsa. Cooked in a pan. Cooked with the cilantro. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever tried. The recipe calls for 2 small hot peppers. That’s a key point. Use no more than two peppers and do make them small. Two jalapenos are ideal. Still, our mouths were on fire.

This tomatillo salsa is cooked with raw, chopped tomatillos put into a pan already containing sweated onion, garlic and peppers. The chopped tomatillos are added and immediately begin to reduce in size as they exude their liquid. The volume of the final salsa is half what you start with.

And, you’ll love this, as you finish this salsa off, you can add a few tablespoons of heavy cream to mellow the heat and create a smoother salsa. This is certainly the only salsa I ever made with heavy cream!

We ate a bowl of this along with a bowl of sweet, cool guacamole. I must say it was fun to dip into one bowl and then the other. Hot salsa in one bowl, chilly avocado in another. The contrast was striking. The beer was a necessity.

Brian is out looking for more tomatillos.

Cooked Tomatillo Salsa

Yield: serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound fresh or canned tomatillos
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely diced
  • 2 small hot peppers, seeded and chopped
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Preparation:

If using fresh tomatillos, remove the papery sheath from the outside. I using canned, drain them. Chop the tomatillos in pieces the size of the tip of your index finger.

Sweat the onion, garlic and the hot peppers in the olive oil for 10 minutes, taking care not to burn them.

Add the chopped tomatillos and stew the mixture until the are completely soft. Stir occasionally.

Add the chopped cilantro and cook for 2 to 3 minutes

For a smoother sauce, add 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream before adding the cilantro.

Source: Sauces by James Peterson