Sometimes after a long vacation or semester at school, we don’t drive straight home from the airport. We can’t stand it even one more minute, so we take a quick detour to our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant.
Usually we head to Taco Diner, because it’s on the way home. Actually, the real reason may be because of their addicting green sauce. It’s a special, SECRET recipe which we’ve asked for many times. Usually the waiter just smiles and says he can’t tell us. Once, though, we gleaned a little more information from a friendly (careless?) mesero. He smiled at us and whispered, “Avocados.” Aha!
And so the quest began. Could we find a recipe that replicated their salsa verde?
John, the Mexican cooking expert in our family, has experimented with a dozen types of salsa from Guajillo to tomate. And, yes, he found the Holy Grail in this fresh tomatillo version. The secret ingredient may actually be the tangy cilantro, so add just a bit more if the flavor is too bland.
- 1/2 pound tomatillos, thoroughly washed and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 2 tablespoons onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 4 serrano peppers, seeded (add some seeds for extra heat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 avocado
- Put all ingredients except avocados in blender with about 1/4 cup water to facilitate blending. Blend for 1 minute until the [i]salsa[/i] is smooth. Add avocado and blend again. If necessary, slowly add more water to reach desired consistency. (The salsa should be thinner than [i]guacamole[/i].)