She Who Must Be Obeyed spent her earliest childhood years in a Houston suburb and was, by report, something of a persnickety eater.
Back in the day there was a classic Houston-based Tex-Mex place called Ninfa’s, it was down on Navigation (it’s still there) and Mama Ninfa is credited with the creation of a number of Tex-Mex dishes that are now truly world famous.
One of those was her green sauce.
Even little SWMBO would plow through a bowl of Ninfa’s magic green sauce pretty much on her own before enchiladas verdes or other classic dishes hit the table. (Their fish and shrimp tacos back in the day were simply outrageous.)
When Ninfa’s finally released her famous green sauce recipe to the public through the Houston Chronicle (sometime back in the early to mid-90’s and, of note, it was the most requested recipe in the history of the Chronicle up to that point in time) it caused something of stir as households far and wide throughout Texas and beyond could now recreate Ninfa’s green magic.
Almost absurdly simple, there’s obviously a bit of latitude in terms of how spicy and how much cilantro you choose to throw in. Try this one and you’ll keep it on file forever.
Sometimes nothing beats enchiladas verdes, though this sauce was the bomb last night over grilled chicken thighs.
3 medium green tomatoes, rough chopped
4-5 tomatillos, cleaned and rough chopped
2-3 jalapenos, stemmed and rough chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, cubed
4-5 full sprigs of fresh cilantro
1 tsp. coarse salt
1 and 1/2 cups sour cream
Combine the tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over medium-high heat (the tomatoes will provide enough liquid), reduce to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool 20 minutes.
Process the tomato mixture, the avocados and the cilantro in your food processor (may need to batch into two).
Pour into a bowl and stir in the salt and sour cream; dip a chip and taste it for salt, you may want a touch more – otherwise it’s ready to go.
Enjoy.
