salsa verde soup.

As I mentioned on my about page, I adore produce shopping. I have a definite weakness for ingredients I’ve never used before; even if I’ve never tasted a certain vegetable, I often find myself purchasing it and dreaming up ways to cook with it later.

I’ve been eyeing tomatillos for a while now, and with all the green I’ve been loving lately, it was time to add them to my grocery cart. I knew their traditional use was in salsa verde, but I was looking for a way to feature them in a main course.

The result started out as salsa verde soup – although in the end it wasn’t remotely verde in color. A rare non-green meal!

mexican tomatillo soup (serves 2)

5 tomatillos
1/2 T lime juice
1/2 T lime zest
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium avocado
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 c cooked black beans
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
1/4 c fresh cilantro
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to broil. Slice tomatillos in half and place on baking sheet. Broil for 5 minutes. Place tomatillos, lime juice and zest, garlic, and avocado in blender. Pulse to combine and set aside.

Sauté onion in medium saucepan until soft; about 7 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder; sauté 30 seconds. Add pepper and tomatoes with juice; simmer about 5 minutes.

Add half the onion mixture to the tomatillos and blend together. Return blended mixture to saucepan; add black beans and simmer about 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro, salt, and pepper to taste just before serving.

We had it over brown rice; I added extra chili powder to mine because my sister tends to have a phobia of all things spicy. It definitely doesn’t look pretty, but it tasted good!