This new salsa cookbook began in the morning English classes in an adult school California.

For snacks the Mexican/American women students brought in tomatoes, chilies, cilantro, and onions for their fresh salsas, and the veritable bounty and variation inspired the group to use their salsa stories as a way of learning English! What evolved was not just a lesson of how to make salsa, but of women sharing their stories through the common experience of food.

At the end of the school year fully 25 salsa recipes — and their stories! — were ready for being packaged into this gem of a book!

Although hard to choose any one recipe, I decided to offer here “Five Green Salsa with Garlic and Lime,” created by Martha Ferreyra, to give you a taste of the full flavor of this book!

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. tomatillos (husked)
1 ripe avocado
4-7 jalapeno or serrano chilies
1 lime
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Roast chilies and tomatillos on the grill. Blend garlic first with a little water in blender, or mash using a mortar and pestle. Combine garlic with roasted chilies and tomatillos and blend on low. Mash or cut finely the avocado. Combine avodaco, cilantro and contents of blender in a bowl. Squeeze limeinto salsa and add salt to taste.

This salsa was created seven years ago as a special addition to barbecued goat tacos. Martha is from La Laguneta, Michoacan, and has lived in the U.S. for fifteen years.