My Vegetable Blog

I'm on a salsa kick. For the last couple of weeks, I've made a batch of salsa over the weekend and munched on it throughout the week. I guess it's just that time of year. This past weekend, I tried out some salsa verde.

Frontera Fresco, Rick Bayless' quick service restaurant on the seventh floor of Macy's on State, is probably my favorite place for lunch. It's a little further than most of the other spots my friends and I frequent, so it's usually reserved for Fridays, when lunch is a bit more leisurely. The Chipotle Chicken Torta is quite possibly the best sandwich in the world. There are lots of Frontera products on display there, including a wide array of salsas. On one of my recent trips, I noticed the cilantro green olive flavor. I'd never thought of pairing those two ingredients, but I love them both, so I had to give it a try.

For my verde version, I grilled some tomatillos, jalepeno and tomato on my new travel grill (which, I'm happy to report, works very well and is, indeed, very cute). I didn't want to overpower it with olives, so I added them one by one until I could taste them. The finished product made for a nice Fathers Day gift, and there was plenty leftover for my weekday snacking.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 pound of tomatillos (about 10), husks removed and rinsed
• 1-2 jalepeno peppers
• 1 tomato
• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 8-10 large green olives

Grill the tomatillos, jalepeno and tomato on a grill or grill pan until nicely blackened on all sides. Place in a dish and allow to cool for about 1 hour. When vegetables are cool, (trim the stem from the pepper) place in food processor with remaining ingredients. Mix for about 1 minute, until ingredients are well blended.

*You may want to add olives one or two at a time, like I did, until you are happy with the taste. Most salsa recipes call for a lot of salt, but I felt the olives gave it enough salt without adding more. Enjoy.