Salsa is going green

When you say that you are Latino, the first question you immediately get is, "Are you Mexican or Portorrican?" There is nothing wrong with being from Mexico or from Puerto Rico, but everyone forgets that there are so many other Latin American countries. Our cuisine differs from one to another. I come from a background that does not eat spicy. The hot sauce is put on the side. We have a more Caribbean influence, with a Mayan Indian twist.
So in order to eat Mexican style, we go to the Mexican restaurants like everyone else. My husband always orders the tacos with green salsa. It reminds me of the time I had the pleasure of traveling to Mexico and tasted the authentic thing. I went to Torreon, Mexico and I was invited to a Bar-B-Que. They were grilling the most fabulous steaks, grilled corn that was smothered with a mix of lime juice, chili powder and butter, and hand made tortillas. We were served our food and these ladies were serving homemade sauces to top the steaks. She had this green salsa in a clay bowl. I knew what red salsa tasted like, so I wanted to try something new. She poured a small ladle of sauce on my steak. I took the biggest mouthful of steak and sauce. Within a few seconds my mouth was ON FIRE!!! My eyes started watering. It was too spicy for me, but the undertone of flavor was fabulous. I asked the lady for the recipe and I have memorized it ever since. The one and only thing that I have changed is the kind of hot pepper I use. The nuclear kind she used is not allowed by Homeland Security in the USA.
So what is the ingredient that makes this sauce so special? Tomatillos. It is not a funny way of spelling tomatos, they are just related. The tomatillo fruit is surrounded by a paper-like husk. When you peel the husk, it leaves a sticky feeling on your fingers and on the surface of the tomatillo. But this washes off easily. So here is a recipe that just consists of boiling water, chopping a little and using a food processor.

• 2 lbs tomatillos
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut in quarters
• 1 garlic clove. 2 cloves if they are very small.
• Juice of 1 lime.
• 2 tbsp of roughly chopped cilantro (if you put it whole, it might not be blended as needed.)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, cut off the stem if it has one. Take out the veins and seeds if you want to tone down the heat. USE GLOVES!! The oil of the pepper even burns the skin of your fingers.

Peel and wash the tomatillos to get rid of the stickiness. Chop the onion. Put the onion and tomatillos in a pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Turn heat to low and continue cooking for 5 more minutes. The tomatillos should be soft. Drain the water.
Chop the cilantro and put it in the food processor. Also add the garlic and jalapeno. Turn on the processor and roughly blend. Add the tomatillos and onion and blend some more. Before you add the lime juice, taste the sauce. Tomatillos are acid by nature, and the lime juice is just to enhance the flavor. If you feel it needs some acidity, slowly add the lime juice a quarter at a time while the food processor is on low speed. Taste the sauce after you add each quarter of the juice just to make sure. Add salt and pepper. Adjust to taste. You can blend as little as you want to have a chunky salsa, or add a little water and blend more to have a smooth salsa.

Quick Meal Idea: Make some authentic Mexican tacos using leftovers. Get some corn tortillas. Use up leftover chicken or beef heated up. Use 2 tortillas per taco you are going to make, one stacked on top of each other on each plate. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for a few seconds. Take the tortillas out of the microwave and top with the meat, chopped cilantro and chopped onion. Then drizzle the green salsa over the taco. Grab it with your fingers, eat and enjoy.
Authentic Mexican tacos do not have shredded lettuce or shredded cheese on them. But that is the beauty of food, if you want cheese on your taco, then sprinkle away.

Sunday I will post on how you use Green Salsa chef style.