Pineapple Tomatillos

I totally love this new tomato that I'm growing this year.  Now I understand why a tomato is really a fruit, this pineapple tomatillo has a strong fruity flavor.  I started two plants from seed in early spring and they are exceeding my expectations.  Their little pastel lanterns are an adorable decoration in the garden.

I've grown regular green tomatillos for several years and expected all tomatillos to grow to be the same size.  I found that is not the case.  Pineapple tomatillos are much smaller, about the size of a garbonzo bean.  But don't be fooled by their size, they pact a lot of flavor into that tiny fruit and are definitely worth growing in your garden.

I usually pop a few in my mouth while I'm filling the vegetable basket for the evening, but tonight I think I'm going to add some of them to a new kale salad I've made.  

This Garlicky Kale Salad recipe is from Whole Foods.  I found it through Eatingbirdfood.com.  I grow curley kale and tuscan kale, so I used both in the salad, and it's surprisingly good.

Lake Valley Seed  is one of five local seed companies here in Colorado.  I'm sure you can find them online.  I believe the only way you can have these tasty garden treats is to grow them yourself, because I've never found them in any local store or Farmers Market.

Ingredients:

 1 bunch raw kale, washed, de-stemmed and dried

 2 Tb tahini

 2 Tb apple cider vinegar (or water)

 2 Tb lemon juice

 2 Tb Bragg’s liquid aminos (tamari or soy sauce would work)

 4 Tb nutritional yeast

 2 tsp minced garlic

 sprinkling of white sesame seeds as a garnish

Instructions:

Cut kale into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl.

Puree all ingredients except kale and sesame seeds in a blender or food processor to blend the dressing.

Pour dressing over kale and massage into the kale with your hands until all pieces of kale are coated.

Let the salad sit in the fridge for an hour or so to marinate.

Sprinkle on some sesame seeds before serving.

This Kale salad is unbelievably tasty just the way it's written.  But since I have them, I added a hand full of pineapple tomatillos sliced in half, and it was even better with this tiny burst of fruit flavor.  It's worth growing this tomatillo just to add to this salad.