I’ve always been more of a Team Mimosa guy when it comes to brunch cocktails.  In my mind, Bloody Marys are the ideal cocktail for those brunches for which your friends can’t be bothered to even roll out of bed until 11:30. So…just lunch then, basically. But they’re usually served with a whole meal’s worth of garnishes, which is by far their best feature.

This version uses raw tomatillos in place of the tomato juice. I by no means invented this concept, although tragically, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Tomatillo Mary on a menu near me. So of course I just made my own.

This take on the Bloody Mary seems more refreshing and lighter. Plus it’s green–the Official Color of Health. For me, it also pairs a little better than a Bloody with sweeter foods, like waffles or french toast.

There ARE a lot of versions of these in which the tomatillos get roasted. You know I’m a sucker for roasting, but in this case I tend to think it takes away a lot of that freshness I just talked about if you do that. And it also takes on that not-so-appealing brownish green swamp water color. Overall I just feel like I’m drinking salsa verde then.

Really the only part of this recipe that might take a little time is charring the serrano peppers. If you have a kitchen torch, it takes less than a minute. If not, you can still char them in the oven. Just make sure your oven is very hot, around 450, maybe even 500 degrees. Roast the peppers for around 20 minutes, rotating them (you can just shake the pan) a couple of times. You’re looking for them to be blackened though, not just cooked. I take the seeds out of the one I put in my drink, just to cut back on the heat a little. If you like more spice, just chuck the whole thing in. I do leave the one reserved for garnish whole.

Speaking of which, these drinks follow the same rules for garnishing as traditional Bloody Marys. The more, the better. And if it could be found on a charcuterie board, it works as a garnish. In the ones pictured here, I garnished by rimming the glasses in paprika and chili salt, then adding lime wheels, celery, the extra charred peppers and some chorizo, which I think compliments this version especially well.

You can shake these up with a little ice if you want, but make sure your strainer isn’t too fine or it’ll just get clogged with the texture of the drink. I either use a wide strainer or just make sure my ingredients are cold before blending.