Sunday, July 18, 2010

Enchilada Sauce

When I was pregnant and visiting my Mom in AZ we went to a magical restaurant called Si Senior. I was craving spicy, crunchy, melty and my meal more than covered my craving.
enchilada, tamale, taco, and chili con carne with red hatch valley chili sauce

It was so good we had to go back again the next day for lunch. I was so happy eating it and then so sad that this restaurant was not down the street from my house. So that started my quest to make my own enchilada sauce. I have made this sauce a few ways and this is my favorite and not too spicy. I go back to Si Senior every time I visit my Mom and I think my sauce can hold up to their sauce.

Note: This makes a lot of sauce. It is work, so I like to make a lot and dirty all those dishes less often.

Enchilada Sauce- makes many meals of sauce to freeze- recipe by me!
4 bags dried New Mexican Chilies
2 large jars salsa i use store brand
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic
medium onion
mexican chili powder
mexican oregano
chipotle chili powder
ancho chili powder
cumin
salt
garlic powder

Rip the stems off the dried chili peppers and discard. Place peppers in a large pot. Cover the peppers with just enough water. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Don't worry about the seeds, we will be straining the sauce. Place a small lid on top of the peppers to weigh them down and keep them under the water. Simmer for 40 minutes or until peppers are soft. Take the lid out and let the peppers cool for 15 minutes.

Using tongs and a ladle place a few peppers with some of the cooking liquid in a blender. DO THIS IN VERY SMALL AMOUNTS. IF YOU FILL THE BLENDER TOO MUCH THE HOT LIQUID WILL SPIT OUT AND BURN YOU! Blend all the peppers and keep them in a separate bowl.

Return the now empty large pot to medium heat. Melt butter and olive oil. Roughly chop onions and add them to the pan. Add the garlic and simmer until onions are soft but not brown. Turn off Heat. Add salsa and stir everything together. Using a ladle add small amounts of the salsa and onions to the blender and blend until smooth. Place blended salsa/onions in bowl.

Put a mesh strainer over your pot. Strain the blended peppers and blended salsa/onions into the pot. Stir a spatula in the strainer to make the sauce strain faster. You will need to scrape out the pepper skins and seeds from the mesh strainer every so often to make it go faster.

Now that the salsa and peppers have been strained into the pot, return the pot to medium heat. Once the sauce is at a simmer add the spices. I start with about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of each of the spices and then add more to taste. If your sauce is still on the thin side, cook it down a little it should be the consistency of BBQ sauce, but not too thick.

Separate evenly between 4-5 containers and freeze.

Sorry there are no pics. The next time I make the sauce, I will update the post.


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