Seasonal Highlight: Tomatillos

Tonight I got to play with tomatillos. I’d never handled one before and was unsure what to do with it, but figured I’d follow my instincts, based on what little experience I do have with their flavor (hello, salsa verde!).

I have to admit, the tomatillo can be a little confusing on first inspection. I mean, is it a tomato or is it a matillo? Kidding, there’s no such thing as a matillo, as far as I know. But after husking the little buggers, the resemblance to tomatoes seemed pretty strong.

Not so, according to Wikipedia. Tomatillos are, in fact, a member of the nightshade family, along with my beloved eggplant. That’s a good sign!

While my other veggies were roasting, I quartered the tomatillos and threw them in the oven with everything else for the last 10 minutes, then let them broil on their own for another five.

I stole a taste of the raw tomatillo before roasting, and my initial reaction was “limey!” (As in lime, not “blimey,” though that works too.) Considering they bear no resemblance whatsoever to citrus, however, that seemed a little weird. The tartness mellows out a bit after cooking, but the point is that there’s no mistaking that these little guys are a fruit and not a vegetable!

My broiled tomatillos made a great topping for a Happy Herbivore Cookbook test recipe. If you’re a fan of huevos rancheros, Lindsay’s tofu omelet will hit the spot when dressed up with the tender tomatillos!

I laid my nom-nom-nom-elet atop a melange of other roasted farmer’s market goodies: roasted turnips, carrots and brussels sprouts. Not wanting the turnip greens to go to waste, I tossed them with a little olive oil and lemon juice and used them as the base of my salad.. The bitterness of the greens and the sourness from the lemon juice contrasted really nicely with the sweet, roasted veggies.

I think I might have gotten my five servings of vegetables all in one meal! Nice.

Dessert was way fun too. In a cross between cereal and cookies & milk, I drowned a couple vegan mooncakes in almond milk and ate the resulting slop with a spoon. Delicious!

That’s enough of my harebrained ideas for one evening. Time for you to enter Katie’s Big, Fat Chocolate Giveaway and support Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness in the process!