Adventures in Condimentry II: Viva la salsa!

This is my second installment in my 437 part series "Better know a condiment". In this issue, we'll discuss an often eaten, but seldom prepared condiment from south of the border.

More than a few hours of my life have been spent trying to devise a way to keep boneless skinless chicken breasts from looking and tasting like tofu. Until recently, my best options have been as follows:

1. Leave the skin on.
2. Leave the skin on and bones in.
3. Leave the skin on and bones in, wrap with bacon.
   

Now none of those options are very low fat or Weight Watcher friendly. My stance for the last few months has been to say "screw it" and just eat chicken like I feel like it, which is why I now have a full-size spare instead of a rubber donut.

So once again I have to face the hard reality that I can't necessarily eat everything I want all the time. As much as WW brands itself as a "lifestyle change" and not a "diet", the inescapable truth is that I have to cut back every now and again. The good news is that I've found another way to flavor up my chicken (and hot dogs, pork, rice, etc.).

Yep, that's right - vegetables, herbs and aromatics. But what shall I do with these miscellaneous gifts from the Earth? Make salsa verde, says I!

I was introduced to the process of making said salsa by my coworker John. Sure, salsa verde has existed since man started walking upright, but I'd never actually considered making it until he brought it to a company lunch. His recipe was great, but it wasn't until I watched Tyler Florence make it that I really got excited.

(As an aside, I've come to love his show "Tyler's Ultimate". It's educational and he prepares pretty good stuff. If only I could make my DVR play it at 2/3rds speed. Dang that dude talks fast!)

Now I know you all have a pound of tomatillos hanging around the house. I know I do all the time. For those of you who don't, I recommend heading to your local farmers market or ethnic food store. Thanks to the exploding Hispanic population in Atlanta I've got ready access to tomatillos, jalapeños and other south-of-the-border delights.

Tyler's recipe is pretty easy (you can check it out here), but I couldn't help but modify it just a smidge. First, I'd leave out the lime juice. It just goes into the salsa and reverse roundhouse kicks all the other flavors into submission. If you're into having a lime-powered karate chop to the tongue, go right ahead. It'd just go easy on the lime and taste it as I go along.

Second, I'd toss all the ingredients in extra virgin olive oil before baking. Sure, it may ruin this condiment's no-point status, but adding a tablespoon of olive oil adds a scant few points (4 points to the batch, to be exact) and a lot of depth of flavor.

Finally, I'd either crank the temperature up to 500°, or just broil the ingredients. If you broil, you'll need to keep an eye on them and rotate them once during cooking.

Yes I know that yet another post on salsa is not going to rock the food blogging world, but it's the little things that make life a little easier.