Super Simple Tomatillo Salsa

It was suppertime and I had my usual conversation with 4.5 year old Ruthie.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked, mostly rhetorically but still looking for a little inspiration.

“Can I make dinner?” she asked, not so much interested in making decisions as making a watermelon pie.

“Hmm… how about you help Mama make dinner?” I suggested, wondering to myself how one even makes a watermelon pie. And that is where we landed.

So I started the corn tortilla dough and began cooking up some meat and beans with kale for a taco filling. Meanwhile, Ruthie was all in on the chopping up of salsa ingredients. Daddy had been in town that day so he brought home the week’s groceries. In the summer, if Daddy is picking up groceries, there is almost always watermelon that somehow makes its way into the cart. This time there were also tomatillos, a timely replacement for the very crispy tomatillos in our garden.

By the time the tortillas were ready to be pressed and the meat and bean filling was cooked, Ruthie had chopped the bag of tomatillos, peeled the garlic, and cut the stems from the cilantro. She added salt and I poured from our gallon of apple cider vinegar. We plugged the immersion blender into the solar outlet and minutes later the salsa was, to her taste, just right. So naturally I added a few more chili flakes.

Simple Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups roughly chopped fresh tomatillos
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup packed cilantro leaves
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or 1 Tablespoon lime juice

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process lightly, only until it has a bit of texture to it. Alternatively, chop everything very finely and mix together for a chunkier salsa.