Salsa Verde (Kind of)

Alas we are at the end of what was a very unsuccessful tomato season for us. We still had lots of green tomatoes on the vine and with a week or so of very wet fall weather some were starting to rot. So instead of hoping they might ripen I just salvaged the rest.

Since we already made a batch of green tomato and apple chutney (fabulous!) I decided to do salsa verde. Around this house real salsa verde is made primarily with tomatillos but since we didn’t grow any (and they are insanely expensive at the farmer’s market) I thought some fake salsa verde would be useful. I used (as always) the Ball Book of Complete Home Preserving recipe for salsa verde which, besides green tomatoes, calls for onions, garlic, chilis, lime juice, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and cilantro (shudder). Since I subscribe to the anti-cilantro school of Mexican cooking I omitted it from my salsa.


My yield was just over 2.5 pints. Although it could be used for green chili it is also good as an accompaniment to refried beans and rice.


On a side note: Although I love the Ball Book of Complete Home Preserving and would recommend it to anyone, you can find some of the exact same recipes on the Ball website. So if you are an experienced preserver just looking for a recipe it is a good resource. In fact, you can get the salsa verde recipe I used there.