Rosie Visits With Maxine.

Friday.

December 3, 2010. Mr. Hawthorne and I traveled to Greensboro yesterday, pieless, and celebrated Middle Hawthorne's birthday. Well, actually we weren't entirely pieless. We stopped at a grocery store and picked up a pecan pie, a pumpkin pie, and a cheesecake for good measure. Not the same as MY pies but they'll do in a pinch. And now I'm at Dear Maxine's in Danville. Rosie's in charge of dinner tonight. On the menu is Navaho Tacos with salsa verde, salsa roja, and an avocado cream sauce, and a corn/bean topping.

Tomatillos.

Making Salsa Verde.

Husk and wash/rinse to get the sticky off. Slice and put face down in iron skillet. Cook over medium heat for seven minutes. Turn over and cook for another 7 minutes.

Gather the accoutrements. Lime juice and zest. Onion. Jalapeno.

Process the tomatillos.

Add in the onion.

Zest of one lime.

Juice of one lime.

Minced jalapeno.

Just a little sugar.

And a little vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.

A sprinkling of cilantro and my salsa verde is done. Now, salsa roja.

Drop tomatoes in boiling water for about 10 seconds ...

... and the peel comes right off.

Stick your fingers in the jelly sacs to remove the seeds ...

... and squeeze to juice.

Coarsely chop.

Minced jalapeno goes in.

Process.

Add some minced red onion.

A little sugar.

Some vinegar.

Cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste.

And my salsa is ready. Next, I'm making an avocado cream sauce.

Avocado Lime Sour cream Plain yogurt Whipping cream

I'm only using half the avocado for the cream sauce. I squeezed lime juice over the other half to keep it from turning brown and covered it in plastic. I'm saving this for the meal.

Chop up the avocado.

Zest one lime.

Add the juice of one lime.

Add a plop of sour cream.

Add another plop of yogurt.

Process and drizzle in a little cream until you get the consistency you want. What you could do is pour this into a little squeeze bottle and squirt decorative squiggles onto your entree.

But, alas, I didn't bring my squirt bottles with me. Up next. my beans.

Rinse beans ...

... and pour into boiling water.

One can never have too many action pictures of beans falling into boiling water.

About halfway through cooking the beans (20 minutes), take them out and rinse. Refresh the water and return to a simmer until done (about another 20 minutes). You want the beans al dente, not al mushe, so taste test. Rinse and drain.

Ingredients for my topping: black beans yellow rice corn red onion green chilies lime assorted sweet peppers cilantro

Finely chop the peppers.

Add chopped red onion and can of drained corn to black beans.

Add in the can of chilies.

Peppers in.

And cilantro. Next, the Navaho Tacos.

I used about 2 cups flour and instead of shortening (Maxine didn't have any.) I used about 2 TB butter. Cut the butter in with forks or a pastry blender.

Gradually add in water ...

... until you can form a ball of dough.

Separate the dough into small balls and roll out into thin rounds.

Fry, ladling hot oil over the top of the taco. This makes the taco puffier I've found.

Drain on paper towels, then keep in a warm oven until you're ready to plate.

I sliced the other half of the avocado and got my sauces out.

Dinner is served.

Cheers, Maxine and Carmen.

Maxine's tree after the wine.

As always, thank you, Maxine, for your hospitality and friendship. Wonderful to see both you and Carmen again. Until next time.