CRUDITéS WITH GRILLED GREEN GODDESS DIP

Crudités With Grilled Green Goddess Dip image

Provided by Eric Werner

Yield Serves 6 to 8; makes about 2 cups of dip

Number Of Ingredients 9

2 ripe avocados
Oil, for coating
5 large tomatillos, peeled and rinsed
2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
2 tablespoons roasted garlic (see Note)
Juice of 2 limes (about 1⁄4 cup)
1 cup basil leaves
1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
An assortment of lightly charred vegetables, such as asparagus, jicama, fennel, snap peas, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and endive, for serving

Steps:

Wipe the grill grates with oil to prevent sticking. Build a medium-heat fire. Your medium-heat zone should have embers 3 to 5 inches from the cooking surface.
To make the dip: Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Cut again so the avocados are quartered. Keeping the skin on, coat the flesh sides with oil and grill each flesh side over medium heat for about 60 seconds, or until there are nice grill marks. Set aside.
Coat the tomatillos and jalapeños with oil and grill over medium heat on all sides until charred but not blackened, about 5 minutes total.
Remove and discard the skins from the avocados. Add the avocados, tomatillos, jalapeños, garlic, lime juice, basil, and salt to a blender and puree until very smooth. The dip can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.
Cut the larger vegetables, such as fennel and jicama, into pieces that are slightly larger than bite size and keep the smaller vegetables, such as asparagus, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and endive, whole. Arrange the vegetables on a platter and serve with the dip.