Arriba Arriba

I love salsa. But then again, who doesn't? I read somewhere that salsa has over taken ketchup as the #1 condiment. Is it any wonder? As a kid, I greedily munched on nachos generously dipped in the large club-size jar of salsa and I thought I was in heaven. I loved the salty crunch of the nachos contrasted by the tangy piquante salsa. Oooh heavenly. I would eat way too many and my mom would get angry when she found me on the floor moaning partially with glee and with some regret for having eaten that one last chip.

When we went to Mexico several years ago, I realized we had not even touched the tip of the iceberg of what Mexican cuisine was or could be. Real mexican food is fresh, clean-tasting, pungent and sweet. It is truly night and day from the food that is passed off as Mexican at home. We enjoyed our Mexican resort holiday although it is not our typical vacation. It was a nice week to get away and sit in the sun and wash off the weariness of a icy February in Toronto. We reclined like scaly lizards poolside sipping on slushy drinks and wondered what we would have at our next meal. Resort food isn't usually something people write home about. However, the food at this resort wasn't bad at all. I squealed with delight with the mounts of guacamole and the hot crispy nachos straight out of the fryer. I live for guac and I could have eaten it all week.

Yesterday during our weekly jaunt to the North Market, we found a half pint of tomatillos for $1. How could I resist? I had seen Tyler Florence make a gorgeous tomatillo sauce for enchilladas this week and I was already inspired. The tomatillo sighting put me over the top.

Salsa Verde
1/2 pint of tomatillos (about 5 medium sized)
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 small white onion, cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic - rough chop
juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of olive oil

Peel the brown papery husks and wash the tomatillos. It's abit sticky so washing them makes it a little more pleasant. I don't know what would happen, but it takes off the dust and dirt from transport. Chop the tomatillos roughly.

Heat the olive oil and add onions, garlic and tomatillos. Saute until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes (I bet if you had extra roasted tomatoes, it would really create a nice depth to the salsa), sugar, and salt. Once heated through, take off heat and whiz in a food processor. Pulse it so you still have large chunks.

Refrigerate until cold and serve with nachos.

Makes 2 cups

It's very addictive. We gobbled this up greedily even though we were stuffed from Sunday supper.