Masa cakes with salsa verde recipe

When I first announced that this month's cookbook of the month would be "Vegetarian Planet," Julia left a comment that she worked with Didi Emmons and helped test some of the recipes for the book.  How cool is that!?!  She said that her favorite recipe from the book is masa cakes with salsa verde, so of course I had to make a gluten-free version.  This was perfect timing because I just received a huge sampler box of gluten-free corn products, including masa harina, from Bob's Red Mill.

Ok, here's the deal: if there's a better recipe in this book, I don't want to know about it.  These disappeared so quickly that I'm almost embarrassed to tell you about it.  Each cake is huge and filling, but I managed to pack them down in a couple of days.  My excuse is that I made them when I was in my day-after-long-run-eat-everything-in-sight mode.  They have an excellent corn flavor from the masa and the fresh corn, and the salsa was the perfect complement.  I also loved the crunch from the apple in the salsa.  Thanks for the recipe recommendation, Julia!

Masa cakes with salsa verde (adapted from "Vegetarian Planet" by Didi Emmons)
(Printable version)

Masa cakes:
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 2/3 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups masa harina
1 cup gluten-free baking mix
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 ear worth of corn kernels (about 2/3 cup)

Salsa verde:
8 oz. tomatillos, cut in half
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, quartered
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 cup water
1/2 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tart apple, diced

To make the cakes, beat the eggs, and then stir in the butter and buttermilk.  In a separate bowl, stir the masa harina, baking mix, salt, and baking soda together, and then add this to the egg mixture.  Add the corn kernels and continue to stir until everything is completely mixed together.  Form five patties from the dough (mine were about 5" wide and 1" thick) and place them in batches in a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat.  Cook until they brown on the bottom (about 5 min), then flip and cook an additional 4 min.

To make the salsa, blend everything except for the apple in a food processor or blender.  Stir in the apple and top each masa cake with salsa.  Serves 5.