Tomatillo Time

Here’s a fresh, easy raw tomatillo salsa. It’s from Aida Gabilondo’s Mexican Family Cooking, still my favorite Mexican cookbook.

Green Green Sauce

1 pound tomatillos

2 fresh jalapenos

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 cup cilantro leaves

Salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse. Pulse all ingredients together in food processor or blender, leaving a little chunkiness in the texture if desired. You may add a clove of garlic if you want.

Spinach Enchiladas

I finally figured out a good spinach enchilada recipe. For the filling I used 2 cups cooked fresh spinach, chopped and combined with shredded Monterey jack and cotija cheeses. I briefly fried corn tortillas, filled them, topped them with sauce and more shredded cheese. Then I baked them for about 10 minutes.

I made this sauce from Aida Gabilondo's Mexican Family Cooking.

Tomatillo Cilantro Sauce

1 pound fresh tomatillos, husked

1 cup cold water

4 garlic cloves

1 jalapeno, seeds and all

1/2 medium white onion

2 cups cilantro leaves

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

First put the tomatillos in a saucepan with water to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer 20 minutes. Drain.

Put tomatillos in a blender with water, garlic, jalapeno, onion, and cilantro. Blend until nearly liquid.

Heat oil in a pan and pour the sauce directly into it. Season with salt and sugar and simmer for five minutes.

Pipián Verde

So I made a pipián, the pre-Columbian dish made from toasted squash seeds, tomatillos, chiles, cilantro, and a few other things ground up and stewed with poultry. James Peyton's recipe called for duck, preferably wild, but I used a chicken.

I didn't know quite what it would taste like -- I'd never eaten one before -- and couldn't quite imagine the flavor, so I didn't tweak the recipes much (Peyton + Gabilondo + internet). Next time I will. It was rich but not as full of chile flavor as I would have liked. And a whole chicken was too much food with all that thick nutty sauce. It was mostly like a dull mole (and indeed, Peyton says pipians are like ancestors of moles -- basically pre-roux sauces thickened by tortillas or nuts).

Toasting the pumpkin seeds was fun; they popped and danced and browned nicely. But even with a whole cup of cilantro and some green chiles, the sauce was a kind of an icky light brown. Next time I'll use a whole bunch of poblanos and tomatillos and fewer pumpkin seeds. A little white wine or vermouth would be good. Maybe more oregano. Lime juice instead of vinegar for brightness. And I think I'll cook the sauce for less time -- use breasts or smaller pieces and only cook the thing for 45 minutes or so once the chicken is browned. I don't think it was improved by the few hours of stewing.

Lawson's growing tomatillos this year, so it shouldn't be long before I try again.

Salsa, Hiking, and Lentil Soup

We hiked on the Arizona Trail with friends yesterday and saw many wildflowers, including this, which I think is called a Mariposa Lily. We started from Kentucky Camp, an old mining camp in the Coronado Forest--it is within a few miles of the place where we scattered Grandpa's ashes.

Then we went to Patagonia for lunch and Santos Cafe is gone! In its place is Mercedes Restaurant, which served Mexican seafood and other things. It was pretty good, but not AS good. At least they didn't fancy the place up at all.

That evening I made lentil soup, cornbread, and a sliced tomato and herb salad. The real reason for this post, though, is to communicate my tomatillo salsa recipe to Sam. We got to talking about salsa while hiking.

Jack Bishop's Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 dried red chile (about 4 inches long)

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 pound tomatillos, husked

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

Salt

Preheat broiler. Broil red chile for a couple of minutes to toast. Remove.

Place garlic and tomatillos on a broiler pan and broil, turning occasionally, until they start to blacken, 8 minutes or so.

Seed the chile and cut in pieces. Place chile, garlic, and tomatillos in food processor and puree. Add cilantro and salt to taste.

Rock Fish Veracruz

On my first attempt I thought I was taking a photo of this dish, but it turned out to be a little movie because I had set the camera dial to the wrong place. Since I kept moving the camera, it looked like the fish was dancing. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to embed my little movie in the blog. I'm sure it would become a hit on YouTube.

This is a fish Veracruz recipe I've used for years, compiled from Sunset magazine and other sources. This time I replaced most of the tomatoes with fresh tomatillos, and it was spectacular. Dad bought the fresh rockfish at the 17th Street Market and fresh roasted green chiles at Food City.

Fish Veracruz

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced

Heat oil in large skillet and sauté onion and garlic until tender.

1 can diced tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes or tomatillos)
4 green chiles, chopped
10 stuffed green olives
1 tablespoon capers
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
½ teaspoon salt

Add the next 10 ingredients and simmer for 5 or 10 minutes. Keep warm while preparing fish.

1 pound fish fillets (snapper, rockfish, grouper)
Flour, salt, pepper, olive oil

Cut fish in serving pieces. Dredge lightly in seasoned flour. Sauté in hot olive oil 3-4 minutes per side, or until just cooked through. Serve topped with sauce.