CSA is a-okay

Monday is CSA day!  Well, today is actually an off-week, but Monday is usually CSA day.  Have you heard of a CSA?  It stands for community supported agriculture and it allows goofballs with black thumbs like me to get our mitts on some real, fresh, local goodness by buying a "share" of a local farm.  For a little bit of money, you get a weekly share of whatever's growing at the time.  It's an amazing way to enjoy the bounty of the season and participate in making local produce farming more sustainable.  If you've never heard of this, do a search for CSAs in your town, there are a lot popping up all over the place, even in Lincoln, NE, where there are plenty of farmers, but most of them grow feed, not food.  I'd like to think I'm doing my little part to let farmers know that growing chard can be just as profitable as growing, say, grain sorgum.

Here's the link to my CSA: Community CROPS!  I think my CSA is extra-special because it is the organization that runs the community gardens in my town.  They also have a larger farm just outside of town and they run many programs that benefit the community.  They teach cooking classes (several of which I have attended), classes on composting, and probably most importantly, they provide training and support for people who want to farm as a source of income.  This is often means recent immigrants, like this fella Efrain, who moved his family here from Mexico.  He started farming at the community farm and now he rents his own farmland.  For the last couple of weeks, he has contributed tomatillos to my CSA box, and he even shared his recipe for salsa verde for the CSA newsletter.  I made some tonight, so I'd like to share the recipe with you.  Thanks, Efrain!

Salsa Verde, Efrain-Style:
6 tomatillos, husks removed
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
18 cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 jalapeno or another hot chile
1/4 onion, finely chopped
salt to taste

Boil the tomatillos and hot chile in water for 3-5 minutes, until the tomatillos turn pale yellow.  Place the tomatillos and chile in a blender with the garlic cloves and blend until it's the consistency you prefer.  Place mixture in a bowl and stir in the onion, cilantro, and salt.  OR, if you prefer, you can blend all the ingredients together in one step. 

Yum:

So that's Efrain's recipe.  To be honest, I have a hard time sticking to recipes, though.  I always use way more than 6 tomatillos, because the ones I have are small.  The first time, I left out the cilantro and used green onions, because that's what I had.  It was delish.  Tonight I was lazy and stuck it all in the blender at once.  Delish again.  It is pretty spicy, though.  If you don't like a lot of spice, maybe use only part of a chile. 

Regardless, you can make the recipe your own because it's super easy just to throw together.  The hardest part is boiling the water. I'd always wanted to make green salsa but I never had the gumption to try until some tomatillos turned up in my CSA box.  What a great way to force yourself to try new things!  Are you part of a CSA?  What showed up in your share that you'd never tried but that you totally love?