Pollo en Salsa de Tomatillo - 222

In looking back over the pictures of some of the meals we've been eating, I'll bet you're all wondering what's happening to our weight. In all honesty, my weight has been going down due to two factors. One, I've adjusted all of our meals to include lean cuts of meat, minimal amounts of oil, and where dairy products are called for (usually as garnish) I have cut amounts in half. When we use chicken broth, we buy the cartons of organic fat free broth, and when we make our own, we make it from skinned chicken breasts, and then skim off all of the fat it before using it in any of our recipes. Same goes for beef. In a couple of recipes you've seen, you may see what looks like grease floating on the surface of a soup, but this is only olive oil that was used to sauté onions or garlic. In some recipes, like the one we're having tonight, we'll leave out the meat completely.

The second factor effecting a small weight loss has been the use of lots of vegetables in all of our recipes. Where we've cut back on the dairy, such as crema mexicana, we've added in more vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, squash, cabbage and carrots to give our meals flavor.

Last night's dinner is a perfect example of an almost fat free meal. We made POLLO EN SALSA DE TOMATILLO from a tomatillo sauce that only had roasted tomatillos, serrano peppers, cooked onions, cilantro and a small amount of garlic. (By the way, how many of you knew that the tomatillo is NOT a member of the tomato family? It's more closely related to a gooseberry!) The chicken was breast meat that we had grilled lightly, and the potatoes were boiled potatoes. We ate the meal over white rice (leftover ARROZ COSTEÑO) and it was the worst offender on the menu last night because it was made with olive oil and the rice wasn't brown.

That's all of the good news. Now for the bad news. Because our tomatillo salsa had been made at the end of the summer with things from the farmer's market, we had frozen it to use at a later time. I don't think we'll do that again as much of the flavor had disappeared into the freezer. Most noticeable was the lack of any kick from the serrano peppers. At the time I made the sauce, I remember it being quite spicy. The cilantro was muted as well. As I ate dinner last night, I kept telling myself that I was just tired and that it was probably good, but Javier noted the same lack of intensity. So, the picture looks as it should, but the flavor had gone missing. We'll remember to make it fresh next time!