Tomatillo Guacamole

Can we have a moment of silence for the end of summer? And those bountiful summer gardens? I’m excited for fall weather and the holidays, but I can’t help but feel a little sad that the heaping baskets of farm-fresh goodies from my mom are coming to an end.

Gardens are a source for sharing. My heart is full when I’m able to give my Nana fresh veggies out of my garden, or take a salad full of fresh-picked lemon cucumbers to a friend’s BBQ. Successfully growing things and having tangible fruits of your labor are all benefits of garden therapy. My mom and I are similar, and that’s probably why she plants an over-abundance of tomatillos. They grow easy, they grow a lot, and heck, they are what brings us here today.

The last few years mom has planted tomatillos. As a result, she finds herself with more tomatillos than she knows what to do with, or how to use. She’s gotten creative and now uses them to make her own chili verde (so good, I’ll have to have her share the recipe!). But she’s also handed them off to me with a “not sure how to use them, but here”. Well, okay, thank you. Now to find a recipe for them…

When she first gave them to me, I wasn’t even sure what the hell a tomatillo was. We’re past that now. Sort of. (For those wondering, they’re like a small green citrus-y tomato.) Better than Google, are my fabulous Insta friends. I sent out an SOS inquiring how to use these precarious little fruits. Before long I had a simple, tasty recipe in-hand from one of my childhood friends (thank you Breezy!). I’ve gobbled up this recipe by myself, and also made it for my family. Gobble is an accurate description of how that feeding frenzy went, too.

This recipe is a fun twist on traditional guacamole. The tomatillos give it a refreshing, citrus-y flavor. The texture on this particular guacamole is also a bit smoother and lighter than regular avocado guac. Anyway, time to cook, and to use up the last of the summer’s bounty –

Ingredients:

• Tomatillos
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Onion
• Garlic
• Jalapeño
• Lime
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Start with your tomatillos. Depending on how many people you’re feeding, adjust your count. For a medium-sized batch, use 6-8 medium tomatillos. Peel, rinse, and half or quarter each of them.
2. Now for the avocado portion – I found one large avocado gave me the flavor and texture I liked. Add more if you want a more traditional guacamole. Take your avocado and halve it, remove the pit, and peel it.
3. Take a couple handfuls of cilantro and chop it up. No need to be too meticulous, you’ll blend it all up later. I like the spicy flavor of cilantro, so I add a little more here.
4. Dice up a quarter or a half of an onion. I believe I used a yellow onion. What kind of onion you use is not critical, just recognize how much onion flavor you’re wanting and choose accordingly.
5. Peel and cut up a couple garlic cloves. Again, this will get blended, no need for perfectly diced garlic.
6. I like spicy, so I choose to add jalapeño. If you’re not a fan of spicy, maybe opt out here. Cut the stem off, cut the pepper in half, remove the seeds, then slice it up. I start with half a jalapeño, and add more to taste.
7. Add all ingredients into a blender.
8. Cut a lime in half and squeeze all the juice you can manage into the blender.
9. Blend it on up.
10. Once it’s nice and puréed, taste it, and add some salt and pepper (I notice I add lots of salt, whoops!). Add more of any of the ingredients to achieve the flavor that makes you happiest! If you don’t feel like the batch is big enough for the number of people you’re feeding, it’s easy to add a few more tomatillos and/or avocado to grow the batch.

This recipe is a loose guide at best, but I hope it inspires you to soak in these last few inklings of summer and harvest. Enjoy while you can, I’m already thinking of next years garden!

Cheers.