Creamy Cilantro Tomatillo Soup

The taste of a tomatillo is tart and lemony, but also a little sweet, especially when you roast them like I did for this soup. Tomatillos don’t turn all creamy in texture like cauliflower does when you roast and puree it; they retain a bit of their original texture even after they’ve been roasted and pureed, so the cream in the soup really is to balance out the tart lemon taste.

When I mentioned this soup to some of my friends at work, some of them weren’t familiar with tomatillos and, even if they were, they weren’t quite sure how to prep them. I found them so pretty while I was preparing mine that I took a couple shots of the process.

Here’s a tomatillo with just a bit of its outer papery shell pulled away so you can see the pretty green fruit inside.

Here they are, all peeled (except for one). I think the papery peels are beautiful in their own way.

Once peeled, I sliced them in half, roasted them in the oven, and then pureed them for soup.

Creamy Cilantro Tomatillo Soup

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: Almost 2 quarts of soup 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 lbs. fresh tomatillos (weighed after peeling the outer shells off)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 – 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 1 1/2 cups half & half or evaporated milk (I used fat free half & half)
• About 1 cup of fresh loose cilantro leaves
• For garnish: plain nonfat Greek yogurt or lowfat sour cream and extra cilantro leaves

---

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 F. Peel the papery shells off the tomatillos and rinse them just to make sure all the dirt is off. Slice them in half and set them in a bowl. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the tomatillos and toss them lightly in the oil to coat them. Place them on a baking sheet, cut side up, and sprinkle liberally with fresh ground pepper. Set them in the oven to roast for about 20 – 30 minutes or until they are nice and tender.
2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion and garlic and heat the teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent. Pour in about half of the whiskey and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is gone, then add the rest of the Jack Daniels and cook again until the liquid is gone.
3. When the tomatillos come out of the oven, let them cool a bit, then put them in a blender with the onions & garlic and the broth and pulse a few times, then puree till smooth. Add in the cumin and red pepper flakes along with the half & half and cilantro and blend some more until the cilantro is chopped into little bits.
4. Warm the soup in a saucepan to the desired warmth and add salt & pepper to taste. Serve hot with yogurt and cilantro for garnish.

---

Notes

If you want the soup extra creamy, add a bit of cream cheese to the blender as well.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2013, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. I love it when you share, but please do not use my images on your own site/page without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. Sharing, pinning, and tweeting is always appreciated as long as the shares and pins link back to here for the recipe. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Creative Wednesdays and Thursday Favorite Things.