tomato salad in tomatillo creaminess

 I you tired of making the same salad all the time? I am… of course my family loves the rainbow noodle salad, and the classic greek salad ( upcoming!), but we like a change once in a while!

I like having visitors because they inspire me to add one or two ingredients I am not used to using! a classic in the US is corn, another one European don’t grow up using is tomatillo, and jalapeno of course! A few comments before giving the recipe. It’s short I promise!

–        Corn. GMOs or no GMO, that’s the question !

Depending on where you are and where you shop you may not have access to non-GMO corn. GMO stands for “Genetically modified organisms”.  Their genetic idengtity has been changed, and I don’t know what it means for my body. They say “you are what you eat”, right? I am not sure, so I keep away from it. I do the same about other GM I am aware of such as non-organic soy, and some type of non-organic potatoes or apples.

GMO seeds are bred to resist aggressive types of pesticides that kill all weeds and pests around them. And these plants are not sprayed with pesticides only once. On first instinct, that’s probably not good either. Pesticides kill pests and bacteria, right? That means they likely (if not surely) kill bacteria in our digestive system.  You say they have an antibiotic-like effect. This is damageable to our gut because our immune system is made of a delicate balance of beneficial and less beneficial bacteria, the good fending us against the bad, or taking care of the uptake of nutrients. So as much as I can, I avoid pesticides.

I you can’t get it all organic for financial reason – food is really expensive these days– or because that’s really all there is in my food desert …that’s where I LOVE a good steam cooker because it gives a good STEAM BATH to my food. If you ever went to a steam room, you know you’ll sweat. And in the sweat you’ll find fats, and fats are the major location of toxins! So, MAKE YOUR FOOD SWEAT the toxins! Whatever you want to cook except perhaps pasta which needs to boil, you can steam in the VITALIZER. And the best is, it is really efficient and is done in no time. Why? Contrary to water, gentle steam penetrates into the food, which cooks them faster. PRESSURE steaming though IS NOT the same. Pressured steam is too aggressive to penetrate the food, therefore its only interest is to raise temperature (most pressure cookers like Instant pot raise temp to 120°C /248°F. However, it doesn’t really cook faster. Proof is, most pressure-cooked recipes cook vegetables for over 20 minutes. The only vegetable I’ll cook that long in my steam cooker will be a huge artichoke, a huge potato, or a pumpkin squash. Moreover, taking the temperature above the boiling point will kill vitamins, decrease bioavailability of trace minerals, destroy fiber thereby raising the glycemic index of your dish, and annihilate plant hormones. [1]So, why do so much work getting fresh produce if it is to destroy it by cooking it ?

–        Tomatillo:

For the Europeans among you, especially those who don’t live on this side of the Atlantic, a few words on tomatillos! Tomatillo aren’t tomatoes, but they look like it. They look like giant, round and green physallis ( they actually are a type of physallis with latin name Physalis philadelphica) don’t at all taste sweet. Without the husk they look like unripe tomatoes. What is famously cooked with tomatillos? Salsa verde ! The fruit comes from Mexico. Often it is used in combination with a chili pepper called Jalapeno. it may not be too local to Europeans but some grocery stores may carry them.

–       About the dressing

Dressing is inspired from https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/tomatillo-avocado-dressing/ but my salad needed oil, so I added some olive oil and increased the garlic. I never tried Chopt’s Mexican Goddess Dressing so I’m not bound reproduce any specific taste and it went well with my salad. I made her copycat recipe my own: I did not feel the need to cook the tomatillo ( raw foods are more nutritious), and just added the point of a knife of baking soda to tone down acidity ( after all between balsamic, lime and tomatillo, that would be quite acidic).

As described, this salad it is vegan, but It would definitely go well with large shrimps ( steamed 5 minutes and seared with garlic and extra virgin olive oil) or steamed slices of chicken (4 minutes) also seared shortly, or a side of grilled chicken!

 You may not need the whole dressing… and use the leftovers tomorrow as a carrot, or peppers dip!! Bon appétit!

TEX-mex SALAD with tomatillo-avocado dressing

Nourishes 4 adults (meal salad)

Prep time:

Vegetables: 10 minutes

Dressing: 5 minutes

Cooking: 5 minutes in steam cooker/ Vitalizer

Diet compatibility: Gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, nut free

ingredients

For the salad:

• 12 roma tomatoes or 6 big/heirloom tomatoes, sliced

• ½ red onion

• Lettuce, 2 cups ( or a half of a small butter lettuce)

• One cob of corn, peeled (that you will steam)

• 1 ½ large avocadoes, sliced

• 1 pepper, sliced

• 1 English cucumber, peeled and diced

• ½ tbsp grey (sea) salt

• One cup of greens or cob salad, separated and cut in two lengthwise (to reduce volume, it’s also easier to eat when smaller)

• 1 tbsp black sesame, for deco!

For the dressing:

• 4 washed but RAW tomatillos

• 1 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped

• ½ jalapeno or more to taste

• ½ avocado

• ¼ cup extra virgin Olive oil

• Juice of ½ a lime

• 1 or 2 Garlic cloves

• 1 tsp grey sea salt ( contains more nutrients and less sodium)

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1.     Prepare your steam cooker by adding 2 inches of water in the pot and turning on the stove.

2.     In a large salad bowl, add tomatoes, peppers, onion, cucumber, and avocado. Add some salad leaves.

3.     Once the steam cooker steams abundantly, add the cobb. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Remove cobb, and let it cool in a plate. Separate corn from the cobb with a knife.

4.     Make the dressing: Cut tomatillos into a tall glass, add half avocado, cilantro, salt, lime, garlic cloves, oil, jalapeno. Use an immersion blender to blend the dressing. Add jalapeno to taste.

[1] On that point see Bernadette (maiden name Joyeux, i.e. me) Jastrebski and Christine Bouguet-Joyeux’s book Tout à la vapeur douce, pourquoi et comment, 125 recettes. Paris: Le Rocher, 2019.