Green Is Good

Enchiladas Verdes. These are a classic at Casa Del Tooth. It's super easy to make a huge batch and freeze the extras for an "I have to work until 10pm" weeknight dinner. You can make these vegetarian but I like to fill them with a combination of shredded chicken and black beans. The sauce is the only really important part - anything will taste good with it.

Umami Tooth's Salsa Verde for Enchiladas:
(will cover approximately four 8x8 pans of enchiladas)

2 lbs. tomatillos
1 small bunch cilantro
1 large yellow onion
2 large cloves garlic
1 large Jalapeno
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
Salt to taste

De-husk the tomatillos and wash well. Roast them on an oiled baking sheet in a 400 degree oven until collapsed and charred in some spots - about 45 minutes OR throw them on a hot grill until they are softened and charred here and there. Make sure to save any tomatillo juice that accumulates.

Coursely chop the onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro, including the cilantro stems.

Put all ingredients except salt and broth into a blender and blend on high. Slowly add the chicken stock until you have a thick puree. Add salt to taste.

It's Summer Folks!

Mr. Tooth and I purchased a 15 lb watermelon at the market the other day. It was post-Fourth of July sale time and corn and melons could be had on the cheap. Things have been quite busy at Casa Del Dientes and the giant (relatively speaking of course...) green dinosaur egg sat on the sideboard, lonely and forgotten. Until this morning!

This watermelon of ours is a lovely specimen on the outside, lime and kelly green stripes zigging and zagging across it's zaftig curves. But the real question is: How will it taste?

Growing up my family had small garden in front of our house and while I was most interested in the strawberries and the sunflowers we sometimes grew watermelons too. I learned the hard way that you can overwater these things. They get huge and mealy, tasting like styrofoam. My elderly neighbor. Lorita, would try her best to turn these mistakes into something more palatable by pickling the rinds. I recommend using any leftover rinds you have into pickles if you are a pickling type of person. So darn good.

But back to the melon at hand. I hacked it open and tentatively took my first bite. It was a good egg. Juicy and sweet, tasting the way July should. Just right.

My Own Personal New Year

I recently had a birthday. I am now very seriously into my 30s. For the past few years I've been in other ladies' weddings on my special day so I felt like I hadn't really celebrated. I missed 30 and 31, happily dancing to festive iPod wedding mixes in my pink and purple bridesmaid dresses. This year I was determined that the day would be all mine so Mr. Tooth took me here for an epic evening of food and wine.


Mr. Tooth and I decided to have the nine course tasting menu with wine pairings. There is something about a long, leisurely meal with someone who loves you that makes food taste really good. MSG for the soul? The uni tasted like the deepest ocean, the sunchoke puree like sunbaked soil and the foie gras like forbidden love. I loved it all, every sip and every bite.