Tomatillo and Ancho Chile Salsa

My husband works at a church, which means that, for our family, Sunday is not a day of rest. He's gone from about 7:30am-9:30pm every Sunday. Boo.

However, he gets a few hours off during the afternoon when he comes home exhausted and famished. I have thus taken it upon myself to make Sunday Lunch a household tradition. A big deal. This way my hungry, hard-working man gets a hearty meal that will propel him into an epic Sunday afternoon nap, rejuvenating him for the evening activities back at the church.

This Sunday I chose to hearken back to my imaginary Latina roots where the women cook with clay pots and the air smells like mangos and spices. Isn't it wonderful that I have these beautiful imaginary memories to draw upon when I need inspiration in the kitchen?

I made "migas", a Mexican brunch dish, and topped it with the most wonderful salsa I have ever tasted. The migas were truly delightful, but I shall save that post for another day. This salsa was the star of the show, and I'm particularly proud of it because it is a completely original recipe. It's unique, too, using dried ancho chile and chipotle pepper to give it a distinct smokey flavor. I think you'll like it!

Ingredients:

- about 3/4 lb tomatillos
- 1 small-ish yellow onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Juice and zest from 3 small limes
- 3/4 of a bunch of cilantro
- 1 dried ancho chile
- 2 serrano chilis, seeded, de-vained, and diced. We like it HOT in our home, so use less if you can't take the heat.
- 1 chipotle pepper (these come in a can, preserved in adobo sauce. find it in the international section of your grocery store. they keep forever.)

Directions:

1. "Re-constitute" the ancho chile. This means that we're going to bring it back to life by steaming it. There are many ways you can do this. I take a Tupperware container, fill it with water, microwave it for 3-4 minutes, add my chile to the water, put the top on, and let the steam do all the work. It will be all plump and lovely in about 10 minutes. Remove the chile from the water, take out the seeds and the stem, set the flesh aside.

2. Quarter your tomatillos and your onion. Place them on a baking sheet with the garlic cloves. Drizzle it all with canola oil (or avocado oil if you're like me and trying to use all the fancy kitchen ingredients you got as wedding gifts). Sprinkle with salt. Roast all of this for 17 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

3. In a blender or food processor, combine all your ingredients and give it a whirl! You may have to do this in batches. It's ok. It will still be delish.

Enjoy!

P.S.
The above photo is not mine. I found it on google. I have all these friends that are really in to photography and, since being around them, I've started noticing and caring about photography way more than I ever have before. This is bad news, because I'm a terrible photographer. Because my picture of the salsa was abominable, I was forced to borrow someone else's.