Tomatillos

As we were collecting our vegetables at the CSA and comparing recipes, Megin mentioned this incredible recipe for Pizza with Tomatillos...okay yes it sounded a bit odd, but after having tasted it I have to say it's incredible. I must also mention that it should have a warning that it may be addictive.

The following was written by Katie Charner-Laird for Lindentree Farms CSA and beyond.

I brought my 5 year old son, Quinn, with me to do my last 2 hours of farm work this Saturday. He always loves the idea, and loves the first five minutes or so of doing the farm work, but his enthusiasm tends to peter out quickly. I’ve been trying to be conscious about what excites him about being at the farm, and keeping that at the forefront when we’re there. He doesn’t really eat any vegetables, but he does love to cook with us. This Saturday, when we asked Ari what our next job was, and he said it would be to pick the tomatillos, Quinn quickly remembered the Mexican Pizza we’ve been making from Everyday Greens, the cookbook by Annie Somerville (chef from the amazing Greens Restaurant in San Francisco). He picked up his pace as we headed out to the tomatillos, very excited to pick the vegetable that would adorn our pizza this week. In fact, he even decided that we needed to serve it at our Labor Day party, so he was eager to fill his bucket with bursting, ripe tomatillos.

I told him we’d share the recipe with all of you, so that you, too, could enjoy this fabulous, intriguing vegetable (or fruit??).

Mexican Pizza with Corn, Tomatillos, and Onions
Adapted from Everday Greens by Annie Somerville

1 ball of pizza dough (have to confess I don’t make my own)
1 ½ tablespoons of chipotle puree (I’m sure you could figure out a way to make this, but I just buy the stuff in the can).
1-2 onions—the sweet ones we sometimes get at Lindentree are PERFECT for this
½ cup of tomato sauce (make your own from farm tomatoes, or a simple marinara in a jar)
¼ lb. tomatillos, husked and cut in fourths (eighths if they’re really big)
2 ears of corn, shaved off the cob
¼ lb. cheddar cheese (1 ¼ cup grated)
2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese (3/4 cup grated)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Preheat the oven to 400.
Cut the onions into ½ inch rings, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them on a baking sheet in the oven for 15-20 minutes, tossing occasionally. They should be nice and soft.
Raise the temperature to 500.
Saute the corn in olive oil, salt and pepper for 1-2 minutes, then add ¼ cup of water and cook, covered for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
Roll out the pizza dough (there are all kinds of tricks for pizza making, none of which I’ve mastered, so I won’t attempt to tell you how to make your pizza really behave like a pizza).
Mix together the chipotle puree and the tomato sauce, and spread it in on the pizza dough.
Mix together the two cheeses, and spread half on top of the tomato/chipotle mixture.
Now top the cheese with the onions, corn, and tomatillos.
Last layer is the rest of the cheese.
Now bake the pizza (I use a cookie sheet… I have a sense that a pizza stone is really the way to go) for 10-15 minutes. As soon as it comes out, sprinkle the cilantro on top.

Thank you Greens Restaurant and Thank you Quinn!
Submitted by member Katie Charner-Laird