Ninfa's Verde Sauce (or how to catch a husband)

Sometime after Dudley and I were engaged, but before we said "I will," I looked at him, batted my eyelashes and gave him my most winning smile, and I asked him when he knew he wanted to marry me. I mean, this is what engaged couples talk about right? As we ride off into the sunset, secure in our love, we're supposed to discuss these things:  the birds breaking out into song, the breeze gently blowing, and the sun shining softly on our love. That soooo did not happen in this story. Dudley just looked at me, and you know what? I still have never heard the answer. I'm not sure if this means that Dudley still hasn't had that moment (funny haha) or if he just doesn't want to admit that he knew right away because that wouldn't be manly. I am pretty amazing after all, and I was driving when I first met him.  We all know Dudley is a huge fan of my driving skills (um, yeah, that must be why any time I'm behind the wheel he's coaching me on changing lanes and driving defensively). I think some day I'll get an answer out of him, but I know that even though this verde sauce didn't exactly prompt a proposal, it certainly put another mark in the "Jessica ROCKS" column.

In Houston everyone has an opinion about Mexican restaurants and everyone has a favorite. And in a city with more Tex Mex than Starbucks this is a really big deal. I've been known to put on my whiner hat when I have to go eat what I consider to be inferior Tex Mex. As in, "I don't wanna go to (insert non approved Tex Mex restaurant) because we always have to go to non-approved-Tex-Mex-restaurant and I wanna go someplace that I like." Seriously. And luckily, Dudley and I agree that the original Ninfa's on Navigation is one of our favorites. Ninfa's is a chain of restaurants, but the original location on Navigation St. in Houston is out of this world wonderful. And when Dudley talks about their verde sauce his eyes shine and hearts circle around his head. So, a few years ago, when we were both in DC and sorely in need of a little kick, I googled "Ninfa's verde sauce" looking for a copy cat recipe that I could surprise Dudley with. And I found a recipe for the vraiment Ninfa's verde sauce, appropriately enough, on Homesick Texan's blog. And I followed the recipe and took a little bite and it was crazy -- almost like I was sitting at Ninfa's waiting for my enchiladas suizas to come to the table. It's uncanny how good it is. Dudley swooned; he consumed every last droplet of the sauce; and I gave myself a pat on the back.

This sauce is really easy to make, and worth every second of it, but the hardest thing to do is run down the ingredients -- especially if you live in an area where things like tomatillos aren't really run-of-the-mill. In Texas it's ridiculously easy to get tomatillos and they're pretty cheap to boot. Up here I had to buy a can of tomatillos at Whole Foods, but I was really happy that they worked out really well in this recipe. As with any recipe that calls for fresh jalapenos, a lot depends on the heat of the individual peppers. The peppers I used in this last batch were spicy so the sauce had a nice kick, but in general it's more of a mild salsa. Check out the recipe on the Homesick Texan's blog (and you can read all about her trials and tribulations waiting to get her hands on the recipe).