El Chico Salsa Verde

This isn’t the raw tomatillo salsa verde you’ll find at most taquerias. It’s a Tex-Mex restaurant-style cooked green sauce, modelled on the version served at the El Chico chain, where the body comes from ground pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and a small spoonful of roux thickens it into a proper sauce consistency.

Toast the pumpkin seeds first if they aren’t already roasted. Untoasted pepitas have a flat grassy flavour; toasted ones bring out the nutty depth that anchors the whole sauce. Grind them with green chilies and parsley until very fine, then build the sauce in oil and chicken broth.

The roux at the end (one tablespoon of fat plus two of flour, whisked smooth) is the move that turns this from a thin broth-based sauce into something that clings to enchiladas, eggs, or chicken. Without it, the salsa is too watery to serve as anything more than a dip.

Chef Tips

• Use whatever green chilies suit your heat tolerance. Roasted Hatch chilies or canned diced green chilies work well for mild; serranos or jalapeños give more bite.
• Grind the pumpkin seeds finely, almost to a paste. Coarse grinds leave gritty bits in the finished sauce.
• Add the roux off heat or with the pan barely simmering. Whisking flour into furiously bubbling sauce creates lumps.
• Make a double batch and freeze half. The sauce holds well in the freezer and reheats beautifully for future enchiladas.

Variations

• Add a clove of garlic and a handful of fresh cilantro to the seed-chile-parsley grind for more layered flavour.
• Use vegetable broth in place of chicken for a fully vegetarian salsa verde.
• Stir in a tablespoon of sour cream or a splash of cream at the end for a creamy salsa verde, ideal over enchiladas suizas.