Tomatillo Salsa

Jason and I hit the farmer's market this past weekend to pick up some hot peppers for homemade hot sauce. We chatted with a nice guy at the market, discussing which of his peppers would be best for our intentions. He also pointed out the "ghost peppers" he had on the table. The ghost pepper, or Naga or Bhut Jolokia is the hottest pepper in the world coming in at a 1,000,000 on the Scoville rating (for reference, a jalapeno comes in at a mere 5,000, and a habanero tops out at about 350,000). When we paid for our jalapenos and serranos, he offered us two for free.

We were scared but intrigued. After a visit to Walgreens for some latex gloves, we decided to try the pepper in a tomatillo salsa. Jason started working and we decided to put our tongue on the tiniest slice of the pepper.... Not much happened. We got bold and took a little nibble. And pretty much nothing. A very mild hot pepper. Obviously not a Bhut Jolokia, we're thinking it was an Anaheim.

Either way, we ended up with a delicious tomatillo salsa. Try it out with your favorite pepper! And if you get your hands on a real ghost pepper, let us know!

TOMATILLO SALSA

1 1/2 lbs tomatillo
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 anaheim pepper, destemmed and seeded
1/2 jalapeno pepper, destemmed and seeded
1/2 cup or so cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp lime juice
salt to taste
*optional 1/2 tsp sugar

-Preheat oven to 450

-Remove husks from tomatillos and rinse. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, slice the tomatillos in half and roast face down in the oven until the skins start to blacken. Remove and let cool.

- Put tomatillos, onion, peppers, cilantro, and lime juice in a blender and pulse until finely chopped. Season to taste with salt.