Tomatillo Sauce

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

If you're looking for something a little jazzier than traditional potato salad, try serving your cold potatoes with tomatillo sauce. Tomatillos look like green tomatoes, but are actually related to gooseberries. They're much firmer than tomatoes, and stand up well to even fairly lengthy cooking. They're very acidic, but the flavor is different from either vinegar or lemon. I love the taste, but if you find your finished sauce is mouth-puckering, add a pinch or two of sugar. The recipe makes more than you'll use on two pounds of potatoes. Leftovers are good in soup or sauce—a fine tool for pantry momentum.

Prepare your potatoes as for The Definitive Potato Salad, but omit the celery and raw onion from the salad. Add some blanched frozen peas if you want.

4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 jalapeño or other hot peppers,
seeds and veins removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
10 tomatillos, papery husks removed
1 small red bell pepper
1/2 medium onion
1 small bunch cilantro, large stems removed
Salt to taste
Pinch of sugar (optional)

1. Chop the garlic and jalapeño peppers rather coarsely (use the food processor).

2. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the cumin if using, the garlic, and the peppers, cooking until the vegetables are softened but not browned.

3. Meanwhile, insert the slicing blade into your machine and process the tomatillos, bell pepper; and onion. Add this mixture to the skillet, continuing to cook over medium heat until it is soft and fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.

4. Return the mixture to the food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add the cilantro and the salt. Process until fairly smooth. Add sugar if needed, and a little wine or yogurt if you feel the mixture is too thick.

5. Add the sauce to the potatoes a little at a time until the salad looks and tastes right to you.

Note:
A variant of this sauce works well on pasta. Add a cup of white wine (red is okay, but doesn't look as nice) to the sauce as it's cooking. When the sauce is done, purée only half the mixture. Return the purée to the skillet with the rest of the sauce and reheat before saucing your pasta.

190 calories, 11 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat per cup

The Dreaded Broccoli Cookbook:
A Good Natured Guide to Healthful Eating with 100 Recipes
By Barbara and Tamar Haspel
Scribner
Hardback, $22.00
Publication date: April 1999
ISBN: 0-684-85454-6
Recipe Reprinted by permission.