Cooked Tomatillo Salsa - Great on Eggs

Chef AprilAllYear's Note:

When I met my husband's then-89-yr-old grandmother, she fed me for 4 days straight. This breakfast item was SO delicious, I studied her every morning to be able to duplicate it at home. My only REAL change is not poaching the eggs directly in the salsa at the end so I can put it in my fridge and use by tablespoon until it's gone (or full cupful, per my daughter). Add salt as you like -- we usually only salt at the table, if at all. With salt added and the optional jalapeno, though, it makes a great chip dipping salsa, too. This recipe can be doubled or tripled - just increase stovetop time.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 3.0 cups

• 14 tomatillos, fresh, skins peeled off, rinsed well
• 1/2 large onions or 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, whole
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (she used lard)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• water
• 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 1 jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

1. Clean tomatillos and cut in half or quarters, and load into blender (14 should fill to the top -- TRUST me, do not toss them in whole at the bottom or they get stuck and don't blend). My mother likes to add a whole jalapeno at this step.
2. Add 2 whole cloves garlic and 1/2 cup water to blender and blend completely.
3. In large frying pan, heat oil and butter on med-high heat and add onions.
4. Saute onions until browned (his is the base flavor that you don't want to skip, but if you are in a hurry, it's okay, it's still yummy!). When the onions are as dark as you like, toss in the minced garlic until it's aromatic (toasted garlic good, burned garlic YUCK).
5. Immediately (and gently, to avoid sizzle/splash) pour raw tomatillos into pan and turn heat to medium low (or low, if you don't want to watch carefully). I use setting 3 on a scale of 10.
6. Let it simmer, occasionally stirring. At 10 minutes, it's ready (albeit thin/watery) to poach eggs: just poach in sauce and serve altogether with sauce if this is where you are stopping - salsa will thicken as you poach eggs.
7. OR -- you may let it cook another 10 minutes, until it's thick, like oatmeal consistency. Then let it cool and put it in a jar for the fridge (topping today's eggs - preferably runny -- with 1/2 cup or so first). My daughter likes it topping her eggs cold straight from the fridge; I prefer mine lobbed into the eggs' pan just as I'm finishing them off so the sauce is warm, too. The color of the tomatillos will go from bright, emerald green to a mossy, darker green when it's ready.
8. Sprinkle chopped cilantro into salsa just as you finish cooking, if you like.