Recipes, Margaritas and Fun in Puerto Vallarta

Hola mes amigos!

Sweet husband Tim and I are in Puerto Vallarta for two weeks and I’m on the mission to find the perfect mango margarita. We arrived Thursday afternoon to perfect blue skies, 80 degrees, sunshine and an ocean view that is breathtaking.

Spoiled brat that I am, we moved up to a top floor corner suite with a wrap-around balcony. And, there was nothing wrong with our original two bedroom suite ~ it just didn’t have as good of a view. I mean, let’s face it, if you’re going to spend two entire weeks looking at something, it should “something.”

So I’ve tried mango margaritas (ManMars) in quite a few bars so far and the winner right now is Claudio’s in Bucerias. It’s a little hole in the beach about a 25~30 minute walk from our resort but their ManMars are sweet and tart, with lots of mango and lots of tequila.

We stumbled on Claudio’s quite by accident. Sweet husband wanted to walk down the beach to the market. Spoiled brat needed to stop, rest and have a margarita. Well, more have a margarita than anything else. Viola! Claudio’s to the rescue. We enjoyed their ManMars so much that after we marketed, we went back for more! While on our second ManMars visit, we sampled what I called “Great Green Garlic Goop” more commonly known to the locals as Green Jalapeno Dip.

Amazing. Outstanding. Awesome. Wow. Yummy!

Here’s the recipe for Claudio’s Great Green Garlic Goop:

4 heads garlic
1 large jalapeno, top, ribs and seeds removed
1/4c onion, chopped
1/4c vinegar
1/2c olive oil
Cut the tops off the heads of garlic. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place garlic cloves on foil squares, top with olive oil, twist tightly closed and place on baking sheet. Roast 25~35 minutes or until garlic cloves are soft. Let cool.
Squeeze roasted garlic out of heads and into food processor. Add jalapeno and onion. Pulse until finely chopped. Add vinegar and blend until smooth. With food processor running, add olive oil in a slow, steady stream until garlic goop begins to emulsify. You may not use the entire 1/2c of oil. This should be the consistency of a runny mayonnaise. Serve with warm pita wedges.

This Spanish language thing is a breeze ~ tequila, enchilada, amigo, si, dos mango margaritas. More Spanish lessons in the days to come.