Avocado Tacos

Most top chefs will tell you the same thing: When they finally escape from the elaborate labors they oversee in the kitchen, they crave late-night street food that’s poetically simple and satisfying: hot dogs, fried rice, a bowl of noodles. For Enrique Olvera, the chef at Cosme in New York and Pujol in Mexico City, that hand-to-mouth haiku can be found in avocado tacos, which he scarfs down around the clock. They serve as both “a comfort,” he said, and “a cultural expression.” In its most basic form, an avocado taco is like a two-bite couplet in praise of Mexican ingredients: a chewy corn tortilla enclosing creamy slices of the-butter-that-grows-on-trees. Spare additions elevate that avocado: a pinch of salt, a spray of lime juice, a sprinkle of chopped onions and cilantro. But the chef takes elevation one step further with a salsa made of pasilla chiles and tomatillos.

Ingredients

• 4 pasilla chiles
• ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 garlic cloves
• 10 tomatillos, boiled in salted water for 15 minutes or until soft
• 3 avocados, sliced thin
• 12 corn tortillas
• ¾ cup white onion, finely diced
• ½ cup chopped cilantro

• Nutritional Information

  • Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

    148 calories; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 113 milligrams sodium

  Note: Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available data.
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12 tacos

Preparation

1. Make the salsa: Snap the stems off the chiles and remove the seeds. Using tongs, carefully hold the chiles over a medium flame to char on all sides. Transfer chiles to a food processor, add the salt and process into a powder. Add the garlic and tomatillos and purée until smooth. (This makes 1 pint salsa, more than needed; refrigerate the rest in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)
2. To serve, place 3 or 4 slices of avocado on each tortilla and top with salsa, onion and cilantro.

45 minutes