Two More Tex-Mex Favorite Recipes, Since I'm Up Anyway

Note that these two are very different recipes; the one is a table sauce, and can be used for dipping or as an enchilada topping; the other is a stuffing mix, and... well, you'll see what I do with it.

First, the green sauce. This is NOT standard "salsa verde," as you'll see; this is something more restaurant-style. 

You will need: 

10 or 12 peeled tomatillos

3 serrano chiles

1 ancho chile

1/2 small red onion, chopped

4 good-sized Haas avocados

1 1/2 cup fresh, chopped cilantro

2 cups of good sour cream; Daisy or Breakstone Dairy, but for the love of God don't use the light stuff

Salt, to taste. 

Fill a saucepan with water, bring to a boil, and add the tomatillos, onion and chiles. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until they are all soft and mushy.

Peel, pit, and chop the avocados.

Combine the tomatillos, chiles, avocado, onion, cilantro, and salt in a food processor, and blend until it is all smooth and creamy.

Pour into a large bowl, and stir in the sour cream to your desired consistency. (Thicker for dip, more runny for enchilada sauce.)

This is a good topping for a lot of stuff, actually, and can be served with nachos, enchiladas, or even as a tamale topping. (Non-traditional, but hey, why be hidebound? Trust me, it's good.)

The second recipe is a bit fancier, if not as involved.

You will need:

1/2 pound blue crab meat (cooked)

1 1/2 tablespoons minced serrano chile

1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro (ok, let me just make a note here. Cilantro is in every grocery store on the planet; it's readily available. Seriously, just use fresh for every single meal, ok? It's always worth it; the pre-pack stuff is nasty, always.)

1/2 cup diced tomatillo

1/4 cup finely diced celery

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 lemon

1 lime

salt to taste

...And for what I do with this, also 4 medium tomatoes. (If you'd prefer to cut down on the veggies, and you don't like tomatoes enough to just eat them plain, you can use the meat from the tomatoes in the recipe instead of the tomatillo, but the tomatillo flavor is better. Up to you. Anyway, hollow out the 4 tomatoes.)

Squeeze the juice from the lemon and lime into a cup and discard the remains.

Combine all the ingredients except the hollowed-out tomatoes in a bowl including the lemon-lime juice, stir together evenly, and let chill for 20 minutes or so.

Once the salad itself is ready, fill the hollow tomatoes with it, and serve.

You can also use this crab salad as a garnish on a lot of other dishes; it adds a nice, lightly spicy touch of the sea to any dish, and goes well with many vegetable or seafood dishes.

You can also use - as a variation on the stuffed tomatoes - Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and split length-wise; this is a tad bit spicier but sure is tasty.

Enjoy!