Tonight is the season premiere of Top Chef Masters 2. Carlo and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of the show, especially watching the chefs, who had previously been judges on the regular Top Chef, realize that those quick fires weren’t so easy and perhaps they were a little too critical of the contestants.
I was definitely Team Rick Bayless last season, who proved to be one of the smartest and most thoughtful chefs that I’ve had the privilege to watch on TV. Perhaps the art history dork in me loves that he was an anthropology PhD student studying in Mexico City who realized that he was more interested in the street food, and then used his academic background to delve into the history and culture of regional Mexican cuisine. While I long to visit Chicago and eat at all of Rick Bayless’ restaurants, I’ll settle on snacking on some of this incredible Crunchy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa with tortilla chips while watching tonight’s Top Chef Masters. This recipe makes 2 1/2 cups of salsa which can feed 4 people as a snack at 53 cents per serving.
Crunchy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa, from Rick Bayless
8 ounces (about 4 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1/2 cup loosely packed coarsely chopped cilantro
1 small jalape?±o, stemmed and roughly chopped
1 ripe avocado, pitted, and flesh scooped from the skin
1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
salt
Roughly chop half of the tomatillos, and put them into a food processor with the cilantro and jalape?±o. Measure in 1/4 cup water and whiz everything to a slushy, coarse puree. Roughly chop half the avocado, add it to the processor and pulse until it is incorporated into the salsa.
Place the salsa into a serving dish and add the finely chopped onions. Finally chop the remaining tomatillos and avocado and stir them into the salsa. Taste and season with salt as needed.
sounds quite tasty!
Sounds like a great salsa! I love the idea of the avocado in the salsa. So summery and fresh. I’ll have to make this on a nice, sunny day!