"Tomatillos" news and stories

When you start exploring the world of Mexican salsas, you'll find they go way beyond the same old tomato-and-chiles mixture. The tomatillo, which is not a tomato but a relative of the Cape gooseberry and American ground cherry, is tiny, bright green and delicately husked, and makes a tart refreshing salsa verde. Blogger joshbousel, of the meatwave blog, shot the photo above, of the salsa he assembled from a recipe adapted from chef Rick Bayless. The tomatillos are husked and grilled first, for a more complex flavor, then combined with chile serrano, garlic, white onion, cilantro, and some sugar, which offsets the tartness.

If you love tomatillos, take them from salsa to guacamole with this recipe from chef Marcus Samuelsson, who serves his guac with beer-battered fish.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

'Antojitos: Festive and Flavorful Mexican Small Plates'
by Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy with Mary Goodbody
Photography by Lucy Schaeffer
Ten Speed Press -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Antojitos, as Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy explain in their book of the same name, are small bites sometimes eaten as appetizers in Mexican cuisine and sometime just downed as a street snack to satisfy between-meals hunger pangs.

The owners of New York City's La Palapa have written a book that covers all manner of these spicy snacks -- from empanadas and tacos to ceviches and mole. Along the way, they give brief stories about the dishes as well as menus perfect for any fiesta, and colorful pages filled with images of Loteria cards and stock Mexican art that add a whimsical touch to the cookbook.

See what we tested and whether it's worth buying after the jump.

Tomatillos and hot peppers. Photo: Brent Ridge, Beekman 1802.

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season.

Earlier this summer, when a friend gave us a few small tomatillo plants, we weren't really that interested in them. Nevertheless, we found a spot in the heirloom garden and pushed them into the dirt.

Three short months later, as we watched every blight-bitten tomato turn brown and drop from the vine, we were thrilled to have those tomatillo plants.

Oddities in the garden, we've been asked more than once what they were. One visitor even exclaimed, "I didn't know you could eat Japanese Lanterns!"

Tomatillos. Photo: The Skinny Chef

I didn't know what to do with tomatillos until I moved to New York City and learned about traditional, homemade Mexican food from many of the cooks I met working in restaurants. They came from towns like Puebla and Oaxaca and they all knew the secret to grinding nuts and spices for the perfect mole and how to roast chilies and other ingredients for sensational salsas -- things I had never tasted in the Mexican restaurants I had visited in the past.

I remember the first time I bought tomatillos, peeling back the husk to reveal a green orb covered with a slight tacky film that made my fingers stick together. Unfortunately, I bit right into the fruit that looks like an unripe tomato! I was disappointed with the taste -- like a cross between celery and cucumber with a sour tang of uncooked rhubarb.

See how Jennifer mastered the tomatillo and get her Salsa Verde recipe after the jump.

Had enough of tomatoes? Try a tomatillo!