Taco Salad Dressing

New Year's 2036. Nineteen years sober. I'm fifty-five years old. Those two facts together — nineteen sober years, fifty-five years alive — have a gravity that I feel more clearly now than I did at forty-five or even fifty. At fifty-five you are, if you're honest with yourself, past the midpoint of the likely road. You are not old. But you are not young, and the distance you've traveled is real and visible and you can see it stretching back clearly from where you stand.

I've started thinking about what I want to make sure I do before I stop coaching. Not a bucket list — more like an inventory of intentions. I want to coach Caleb Park's senior year. I want to be there for whatever Marco's career becomes, available to advise or just listen. I want to see Elena's third book. I want to take Lisa somewhere she's wanted to go for years — she's been saying the Pacific Coast for as long as I can remember and we've never done it. I want Maya to know who I am in the way that children know grandparents when they actually have time together. I want more spring mornings in Las Cruces with Papá and Mamá.

Papá called at midnight. He said: diecinueve. I said: diecinueve, Papá. He said: you know, you passed me a long time ago. I asked what he meant. He said he'd been sober thirty-six years. I said I know. He said: I mean, you passed me in becoming the father I always wanted to be. I didn't know what to say to that. So I said: Papá. That's all. He said: I know. I know. And he did.

After Papá and I hung up, I stood in the kitchen for a long time with nothing but the quiet and the weight of what he’d said. When I finally needed to do something with my hands, I made this dressing — the same one he taught me years ago, built on the cumin and lime and chili heat that has always meant home to me. It’s not posole, which is what we’d have had if I were in Las Cruces, but it carries the same geography in its flavors, and some nights that’s exactly what you need to feel tethered to the people who made you.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 large lime)
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1–2 tablespoons milk or buttermilk, to thin as needed

Instructions

Combine the base. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and mayonnaise until smooth and fully incorporated.
Add the seasoning. Stir in the lime juice, taco seasoning, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper. Whisk until evenly blended.
Adjust the consistency. Add milk or buttermilk one tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition, until the dressing reaches a pourable consistency you like.
Fold in the cilantro. Stir in the chopped fresh cilantro. Taste and adjust salt, lime, or seasoning as needed.
Rest before serving. For the best flavor, cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the spices to bloom. The dressing keeps well refrigerated in an airtight jar for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Taco Salad Dressing — The Flavors That Carry a Midnight Phone Call Home