"Shut it Down" Tomatillo Sauce

My friend Greg is an amazing cook. He is self-taught and very creative with his recipes. He had us over for pork carnitas the other night and it was incredible - slow cooked pork shoulder, homemade sopas, white onion, fresh cilantro and the most insane tomatillo sauce. The flavors were incredible. I was excited to be there while he was cooking so I could take notes because he doesn't follow recipes or write his own down, and when I try something the first time I need exact measurements. So here is his tomatillo sauce recipe.

Regarding the name - Greg HATES the tv show The Rachel Zoe Project so his wife and I were saying all night that he "shut it down" with his delicious dinner. He had no idea where it came from and agreed that he did "shut it down". It was quite funny when we told him where it came from. He gets really riled up so it's fun to egg him on.

Greg's "Shut it Down" Tomatillo Sauce

Chop the following into large chunks:

3 jalapenos
3 shallots
8 tomatillos
5 roma tomatoes
1 red onion
1 1/2 apples
1 white onion
1 red bell pepper

Toss the above items in a large bowl with:

1 whole bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 t black pepper
1 t kosher salt
1 t coriander
1/2 t sage
1 t paprika
2 t cumin

You will also need 1 T raw sugar.


Place a rimmed cookie sheet or roasting pan in a preheated oven set to 450 degrees. Remove pan and transfer everything from the bowl to the pan and sprinkle the sugar over the top.


Cook for about 30 minutes (do not stir) until the tomatillos and veggies are charred a bit and the tomatillos deflate easily when pressed with a fork. Remove from oven and transfer everything to a blender (or in batches if you need to). Blend to create a thick tomatillo sauce.


Use for pork carnitas (Greg's recipe coming soon!). I imagine it would be good on chicken or fish tacos as well.