Pace Picante sauce was a staple in my house growing up. Remember those hilarious “Get a rope” commercials? Ahaha. Those were the days. The days when Pace was a decent salsa. Then something happened, I don’t know, I guess I was around eight, and my parents quit buying Pace because they “changed the formula”. Well, that settled it in my mind, too, and I have not had Pace Picante sauce since.
But my parents tell a funny story about when my little brother was actually little, like maybe three years old, they had some friends over and of course, had chips and Pace Picante sauce out. And little baby brother, I imagine, was hanging out in his drawers, trying to talk to the grownups, and making a complete fool of himself, not old enough yet to realize that grownups do NOT just “hang out” in their drawers, but he’s trying to act mature so he’s also helping himself to the chips and the picante sauce. But it’s too hot for him. And he starts crying. And my mom gives him some water or something I’m sure, and all the grownups think it’s hilarious, I’m sure. And he stops crying. But then he eats some more chips and picante sauce. And it’s too hot again. And he starts crying again. And my mom laughs and gets him some more water again and so on and so on.
It took him hours to learn that it was the Pace Picante that was making his mouth burn. Pretty. Fucking. Cute.
Which brings us all the way around to my absolute favorite, best green salsa recipe. I use manzano peppers which are a fairly new arrival to Austin produce departments. They are hot, but also very fruity. Habaneros are a fine substitute, but if you go that route, I think it tastes better after a 24-hour time-out in the fridge. If you can find manzano peppers, you will probably eat all the salsa within the first 24 hours. Just sayin’.
- 5-6 Tomatillos (about ½ pound)
- 1 manzano or habanero chile
- ½ cup minced onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of one lime
- ¼ cup cilantro, minced
- ¼ cup water
- Peel the husks from the tomatillos and rinse off the sticky sap.
- Put them and the pepper on a cookie sheet and stick under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until they’re blistered, blackened, and softened.
- Remove the stem (and seeds for a milder salsa) from the pepper.
- Put everything into the blender and puree. Be CAREFUL when blending hot liquids. Place a dish towel over the lid and hold it down firmly. The heat causes a pressure build-up that can pop the lid off the blender and spray salsa all over you and your kitchen.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks GREAT!
Thanks, Jason! That means a lot!
Your cute, your sexy, you make cooking fun & I love your videos.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Dave! Lucky for you, new videos start next Tuesday!
Thanks for writing! Hope you like our new season even better than the last.
This salsa is awesome. No joke.
Similar to my recipe except I put in a roasted Hatch Chile instead of a manzano. Holy Crap is it good!!
I bet that is superamazing! I love Hatch chiles.
Oh, drat! I just made salsa verde yesterday (a double batch, no less). And all of my sealable containers are full. I guess I’ll have to make the long trek north and buy some more at the Container Store.
Where’d you get the manzano chiles? What do they look like?
The more I think about it, the more I want to try this recipe. My recipe is very similar, but I like the idea of the lime juice. One thing I do differently is just slice the onions and then add them and the garlic to the cookie sheet and char them as well.
They look like this
They don’t keep very well, either. Maybe 2-3 days in the fridge and they start getting soft.
And also, Fiesta has them and El Rancho.
You weren’t kidding about their life span! I went to Fiesta tonight and they had 4 left. Two were already on their death bed and the other two barely made the ride home to my broiler
Yay! You found them!
Funny thing. We just had something VERY similar to this last night. We had friends over and were making flautas. Turns out we were out of Pace. So our friends run back over to their house (they live 1 block over) and bring back a mason jar of a salsa just like this.
Apparently you can ‘can’ this stuff. They have jars and jars of it.
I’m not sure they were using manzano peppers. The salsa had a little heat but wasn’t too hot. They couldn’t remember the pepper they used but they said it was a yellowish/red pepper.
YUM. What a coincidence. 2 instances of poor PACE performance and Tomatillo sauce in one day. What are the odds!
Love the show!
eric
houston TX
Ha! That is funny!
I wonder if they used a ripe Hatch pepper like someone else mentioned in these comments. They aren’t too hot, but have a great flavor.
I’m glad you found me!
As am I
E
houston TX
Well, crap. If I find a manzano here, it will be a miracle! Although, I do live in the ghetto and can hopefully find one on the pepper black market. I am dying for Tex Mex over here!!!!
Dangit! I’d mail you one but they seem to be the most perishable peppers on the planet.
We would love to see you make a video showing you making this Salsa Verde.
Hi Luis!
I’d love to make a video for every recipe! Right now I don’t have the time. Gotta work to pay the bills, you know?
Check out this video on Salsa Roja – it might be helpful.
Thanks for writing!
GREAT recipe! And for a little added fun, you can burn the crap (as in blacken) out of the tomatillos and peppers over a charcoal (or hardwood) grill for a good added smokiness if that’s your thing…
Yum! Smokiness is TOTALLY my thing, Michael.
Thanks for the tip!
-hilah
I made this as written, but it was a little spicy for me. So I added half an avocado, and I’ve got to say that it’s probably the best salsa verde I’ve ever eaten. And I live in Texas, so I’ve had some good salsa verde. Thanks for the recipe, Hilah!
Congratulations, Stephanie! You’ve just invented your signature salsa recipe!
Great solution to a too-hot salsa. Thanks for sharing.
This salsa is so amazing! Looking forward to making your chicken enchiladas recipe with it. Your book has transformed my kitchen from a room I just cleaned once a week to my favorite room in my house. Thank you! Also my coworker thank you, as I’ve been dazzling them with your food. Eventually I’ll introduce them to your book, but for now we’ll just all pretend it’s part of my gay magic.
Thanks again,
Cole
Bahahaha! DEWD. Thanks for the LOLz. I think this wins “comment of the week”! Thanks for writing.
I totally posted a screenshot of your comment on my facebook page today. It made me that happy!