Friday, April 9, 2010

Green Chile Sauce

This recipe makes a great green enchilada sauce. I've started using it in place of the stuff in cans since the price of buying the chiles is comparable, plus I sort of prefer the taste to the canned sauce. So far I've only used it in these honey lime enchiladas, once with chicken and once with pork (both were good).

The recipe is really easy, but does take a little time. Next time I make it I'm going to double or triple it and freeze some for later.

Recipe from Cooking Light magazine, December 2007

6 fresh Anaheim chiles (long, slender green chiles found in most grocery stores)
1 T. canola oil
2 c. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1 14-oz. can chicken broth

Preheat broiler.

Place chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil chiles for 14 minutes, or until blackened and charred, turning after 7 minutes. Put charred chiles in a heavy-duty ziploc and seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Remove from ziploc and peel and discard skin. Cut a lengthwise slit in each chili and remove tops and seeds (I find that they're usually attached, so when I pull off the top the seeds come along). Chop chiles and measure 3/4 c. (I always end up with more than 3/4 c. chopped chiles, but I throw it all in anyway. I suppose you could save the rest of the chopped chile for later and use in place of a can of green chiles or something.)

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan and saute for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. (Mine always starts to burn when I add the garlic, so you might try reducing the heat a bit, or stir more often.) Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Add chiles, coriander, salt, and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Scoop half of chile mixture into a blender. Remove center piece from the blender lid so team can escape and put a dish towel over the opening while you blend. Blend until smooth. Return blended mixture to pan and stir well. Remove from heat and cool.

Makes about 3 cups sauce.

5 comments:

Kelly said...

Wait, I have a question... You only blend half of it? So it has lumps of chilies and onions?

Thanks
Kelly

Vicky said...

The recipe says half, so yes there are chiles and onions in the sauce, but if you're worried about lumps, they really aren't that noticeable if you're dicing them small. You could blend all of it or more than half of it, if you want. It doesn't make a difference. I kind of like the pieces of chile in mine.

Jen and Joe. said...

Um, I made those honey lime enchiladas last week....MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Thanks for the link!!! This will definitely go into the meal rotation!

Vicky said...

So a made a large batch a while back and froze 2/3 of it. I used the first frozen batch the other day and it wasn't nearly as good as the just-made stuff. It didn't freeze well at all, so I won't be doing that again.

Vicky said...

I have to revoke what I said about freezing this sauce. The next batch I took out of the freezer I reheated on the stove, stirring it all up and it was just as good as the fresh stuff. So in case anyone is making this now you know it's freezable.