Roasted Salsa Verde

Roasting the ingredients gives a wonderful depth of flavor to this easy-to-make salsa verde. You can adjust the heat of the salsa by adding or subtracting roasted serranos. Two large or three medium makes a medium-hot sauce. 

Makes about 1 1/4 cups of salsa.

Ingredients

1/2 pound tomatillos, papery husks removed, rinsed and patted dry

2 large or 3 small serrano chiles

1/2 white onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices

3 medium garlic cloves, unpeeled

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the tomatillos, chiles and onion slices on a baking sheet (line it with a Silpat mat, if you have one, for easier clean-up) and roast them for 10 minutes. Use tongs to turn the vegetables over, and roast another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

2. While the vegetables are roasting, heat a small skillet or sauté pan over high heat till it's hot. Drop in the garlic cloves, and roast them about 2 minutes, turning them a few times, till they're a little charred in spots.

3. Pull off and discard the stems of the serrano chiles. Place the chiles, onion slices, tomatillos and salt in the bowl of a food processor. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, pop the cloves out of their skin and add them to the bowl. Purée till it's smooth, stir in the cilantro and serve.