Salsa Verde

Steps

1. Prep4 min
   cold running water
   • tomatillos
   peel the papery husks off the tomatillos and rub the fruit under water until it stops feeling tacky — that sticky resin is bitter and it does not cook off
2. Broil12 min
   broiler high, rack 4 in from element, single layer
   • jalapeños
   • white onion
   • garlic
   tomatillos + jalapeños + onion + unpeeled garlic on a foil-lined pan, turned once, until the skins blister black in patches and the tomatillos slump and weep; keep the pan juices, they are concentrated tomatillo and most of the flavor. Garlic stays in its skin so it sweetens instead of scorching to bitterness — squeeze it out after
3. Rest5 min
   off heat
   let everything cool enough to handle; blending tomatillos hot makes them foam and go pale, and the steam will blow the lid off a blender jar
4. Mix1 min
   short pulses
   • serrano chili
   roasted tomatillos + pan juices + chilis + onion + peeled garlic + salt + water, pulsed to a loose, flecked sauce. Stop while it still has body — running the blender long whips air in, which turns the green grey-pale and thickens it into a paste that tastes of nothing but seeds
5. Mix1 min
   two or three pulses only
   • cilantro
   + cilantro, barely broken up; the blade bruises the leaves and long blending pushes them from fresh to grassy and soapy
6. Season2 min
   room temperature
   • lime
   • sugar
   taste and correct: salt if it reads thin, a pinch of sugar if the tomatillos were aggressively sour, lime only if the char has flattened the acidity. Rest 10 minutes before serving — the salt needs that long to pull the raw edge off the onion