Colorado-style restaurant red enchilada sauce

In Colorado, we have a spin on Mexican food that's distinct from other regions like Texas or New Mexico (not to mention Mexico itself). This recipe is a dead ringer for Colorado diner-style enchilada sauce, which is similar to New Mexican but we add tomato sauce and use less chili powder. The result is a somewhat more complex and layered sauce. If you've ever had red enchilada sauce in my fair state, it's some variation of this recipe. And this is light years ahead of the weird, off-tasting premade red slop theyt sell at the supermarket in cans. It's well worth the few extra minutes to use this instead of premade to really amp up your meal! This also is great on eggs, potatoes, tacos, chilaquiles, or damn near anything else.

Prep time: 1/4 cocktail

1/3 cup neutral cooking oil (like canola or avacado -- don't use olive oil)
1/3 cup white flour
1/3-1/2 cup chili powder, to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Several pinches white pepper (optional)
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
3 cups vegetable stock

Salt to taste

Combine chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and white pepper (if using) in a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk constantly for 1 minute. Add the spice combo and whisk constantly for 1 more minute. Slowly add the tomato sauce, still whisking continuously. Then, slowly add the veg stock while continuing to whisk. Simmer for 1 more minute and adjust salt to taste. You can cook down for a while if you prefer a thicker sauce, but it's normally served somewhat thin when you have it here. 

Salsa de arbol base recipe

 

This is my base recipe for salsa de arbol. It can be sexed up with just about nything: cilantro, a bit of additional raw onion, charred bell pepper, spices... whatever. 

Heat levels depend on how many chiles de arbol you use:

• 2-4 chiles = mild salsa
• 6-8 chiles = medium salsa
• 10-12 chiles = hot salsa
• 16+ chilies = EXTRA spicy

Prep time: 1/4 cocktail

2-20+ chiles de arbol (see note above)
2-4 guajilio chilies
1-1.25 pounds roma tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
1 large onion, peeled and quartered

3 cloves garlic, peeled (left whole)
Optional: a couple jalepenos, de-stemmed and sliced lengthwise
1 tsp powdered bullion (I use Knorr tomato chicken, available at Mexican grocers)
1/2 tsp salt

Lime juice or apple cider vinegar to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Place arbols and guajilio on a baking sheet and bake until they change colors and get aromatic. This can happen fast -- don't burn them. You just want a light toast.

Transfer toasted chilies to a small pan, add just enough water to submerge them fairly well. Put on the stovetop and bring to a boil, then immediately remove from heat and set aside to cool.

On your now empty baking sheet, arrange the tomatoes and onions (and jalepenos if using) in a single layer on baking sheet. Put into oven and bake for 10-20 minutes, or until the bottoms of the veggies are blistering and charred a bit. 

Add the garlic to the baking sheet and change oven setting to broil. Cook until the veggies are nice and blistered and a little charred on top too, about 10-20 more minutes (but will vary on individual ovens).

Now, remove stems from soaked guajilios and transfer the soaked peppers, roasted veggies, bullion, and salt to blender. Blend until you have a nice salsa consistency (do not overblend). Add water, if you want a thinner consistency. 

Add lemon or vinegar to taste and adjust salt. Chill and serve.

Base recipe: Taqueria emulsified habenero salsa

 

This is my standard base recipe for what might be my favorite salsa. Though it has a couple habeneros, it's actually pretty mild, as the roasting process and addition of oil takes the bite out of it. This is a delicious, complex salsa that you can add other veggies or spices to if you want. But the base version itself is also perfect. Recipe makes 1 quart.

Prep time: 1/2 cocktail

1/2 orange bell papper, guts removed and sliced in half (into two quarters)
2 habeneros, sliced in half lenthwise and de-stemmed
4 large roma tomatoes, quartered lenthwise (about 1-1.25 pounds)
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced into quarters
2-3 large tomatillos, dehusked and sliced in half

3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup neutral oil, like canola (NOT olive oil)

2 tsp powdered bullion (I use Knorr tomato chicken, available at any Mexicn grocer)
1 tsp sugar
A few tiny dashes white vinegar (to taste)

Salt to taste (may not be needed, depending on bullion used)

Preheat oven to 375 (not in convection mode--you want the veggies to roast from the bottom.

Arrange the following in a single layer on baking sheet (a layer of aluminum foil can make cleanup a lot easier): bell pepper, habeneros, tomatoes, onion, and tomatillos. Put into oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the veggies are blistering and charred a bit. 

Add the garlic to the baking sheet and change oven setting to broil. Cook until the veggies are nice and blistered and a little charred on top too, about 5-10 more minutes (but will vary on individual ovens).

Once veggies are nicely roasted, transfer them all to a blender with oil, bullion, and sugar. Puree until it is a nice, totally smooth consistency. Adjust flavor with white vinegar, salt (I usually add ~1/2 tsp of both salt and vinegar), and additional sugar, if necessary. You can also add a little water if you want a thinner consistency. Cool and serve. 

Salsa Oaxaqueño

So this is a great all purpose, quick salsa that's good with anything from chips to smothering enchiladas. The only thing unique about it, other than it being really amazing, is that the woman who taught me the recipe--a native Oaxacan--said that it's a traditional salsa from the area because it doesn't use lime. Instead, it relies on a hefty dose of charred tomatoes and peppers to produce the acidic bite that limes usually provide. And to be sure, she was right. It's big, fresh, and bright.

One word of note, however, is that you really don't want to try to save 90 seconds by using a food processor. This salsa--like many in mexico--is meant to be ground by hand in a molcajete, though any mortar and pestle will work. However, a food processor or blender totally rips the ingredients to shreds, which imparts some funky flavors. Channel your inner abuela and prepare this the traditional way. Your tastebuds will thank you!

One ingredient note is that here in Oaxaca, the recipe calls for chiles de agua. They're a local heirloom that isn't commercially cultivated outside our little valley. So instead, I recommend a couple Anaheim chilies and a jalapeno as a totally suitable replacement. That said, you should totally use 2-4 fresh chiles de agua if you happen to see them at your local Mexican market.

Prep time: 1/2 mezcal-based cocktail

6 Roma tomatoes
2 Anaheim chilies
1-2 jalepenos
4 cloves garlic, coarsely minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
2-4 sprigs cilantro, leaves plucked off and stems discarded
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to broil or fire up your outdoor grill. Once hot, place tomatoes and peppers on the grill (or the top rack of your oven, with a foil-lined pan underneath to catch drippings) and char everything until well blistered/charred and the skin of the tomatoes falls away, rotating every few minutes so all sides are equally roasted. Don't overthink this, as it's impossible to overcook these, and a long as things are well-blistered, they're not undercooked. It will take your peppers about 10 minutes and your tomatoes about 15, but mileage will vary. Your tomato skins will probably fall off and stick to the rack. Don't worry about it.

Transfer peppers to a paper bag or sealed tupperware and place tomatoes in a bowl to cool. Do something fun for about 15 minutes or until everything has cooled enough to handle.

After you return, in your molcajete or mortar and pestle, first grind your garlic and onion into a paste. Then peel, stem, and seed peppers (doing this under a stream of cold water is easiest). Put your pepper flesh into the onion/garlic mixture and pulverize well. Now peel and quarter each tomato lengthwise and transfer all the tomatoes to the onion/garlic/pepper mixture. Grind until you've reached the desired level of chunkiness for your salsa.

Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in cilantro (don't grind it like you did the other ingredients!) and salt.

Ridicously Simple Roasted Salsa

Stop paying five bucks for salsa at the store! Make this instead! This was taught to me by the amigos who manned the kitchen at one of the restaurants I used to work at. They made it almost every day for lunch and never got sick of it. It's about as fast and simple to make as anything you can imagine and is a fraction the cost of store-bought salsa (and is better). It also scales up easily for a big party. 

This salsa is also fantastic for smothering any type of Mexican food, particularly tamales. 

It's important to not try to get too fancy with this recipe. I’ve tried to sex it up by adding lime juice, cilantro, or onion and have just ended up ruining the salsa.

And remember, you’re charring the vegetables, so it’s a great way to use up tomatoes or jalapeños that are too far past their prime for other uses.

This salsa is traditionally from the northern states in Mexico and traditionally goes great with carne asada. But it's a great all-purpose salsa too. Heat wimps can substitute some or all of the jalapenos with Anaheim chilies. 

Prep time: 1/2 cocktail

5 whole tomatoes, vine ripened

2 whole jalapeños (or more for spicier salsa)

1 scant teaspoon salt

Make sure your grill surface is super clean. A shot of cooking spray is even a good idea, as it’ll keep the skins from peeling off the veggies. Grill the tomatoes and jalapeños until the skins are nice and blackened, turning occasionally. Don’t worry about burning the vegetables, even totally charred tomatoes and jalapeños make great salsa (just don’t under grill them).

If outdoor grilling is out of the question, you can roast the tomatoes and peppers in the oven. Set the vegetables on an oven rack with a foil-lined, oven-safe dish underneath to catch the drippings. Broil until the tomatoes and peppers are nice and blackened, turning occasionally with a tongs. (Note that without good ventilation, you may fill your house with smoke.)

Remove veggies from grill or oven and chop stems off jalapeños and tops off tomatoes, but DO NOT peel the veggies. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you reach the desired consistency.

Chill and serve.

Awesome Tangy Tomatillio Salsa Verde

This is a pretty traditional restaurant style green salsa or as a zippy tamale smothering sauce. If you're a heat fanatics, you can scale up the pepper count—I usually make it with three jalapeños and a habenero.

Prep time: 1 cocktail

1.5 pounds tomatillos, with husks left on

4 Jalapeños (or other hot peppers), whole

5 medium-sized cloves of garlic still in husks

¾ cup onions, chopped coarsely

10-12 sprigs fresh cilantro

Juice of 1.5 limes

½ tsp salt

20-30 fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tsp dried)

A good amount of fresh cracked pepper

Preheat oven to broil. Place tomatillos on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Pan should be big enough so that tomatillos aren’t too crowded. Broil tomatillos until the skins blister and they begin to expel some of their juices, about 10-15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes and remove husks.

Heat a dry frying pan over medium to medium high heat. Add peppers and garlic. Stirring occasionally, pan roast them until they blacken and blister a bit. The garlic will take about 6-8 minutes, the peppers will take a bit longer (it’s impossible to over-char your peppers, so don’t worry too much).

Remove garlic husks and chili stems. Put everything except the onion in a food processor or blender and puree. Once it’s relatively smooth, add onions and pulse a few times to break the onion up into little chunks. Adjust salt and pepper.

Refrigerate and serve. Flavor gets even better after a day or two.

Pico De Gallo

This is as simple as it gets. Perfect for chips, fish tacos, or damn near anything else.

2/3 of a bunch cilantro, minced and divided
4 tomatoes, chopped (vine ripened only, don’t use Roma or others)
1 small red onion, chopped
4 jalapeños, chopped
1 tsp salt
Juice of 2 limes
2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine everything in a big bowl and stir well. Eat the shit out of it!

Salsa Rojo

This is a perfect accompaniment for tamales, eggs, or as a "restaurant style" salsa for chips. But it is at its best when served as an accompaniment for pupusas--the national dish of El Salvador (click here for recipe).

A couple quick notes: You can adjust the hotness by adding or subtracting hot peppers. Also, if you don’t use completely ripe tomatoes, the salsa will have a sour flavor. I recommend you use only very ripe, sweet tomatoes if you wish to avoid this.

4-6 Serrano chilies, stems removed (or equivalent jalapeños, cayenne or other hot peppers—use a couple habeneros if you want really hot salsa)
6 vine-ripened tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
¼ large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 veggie bouillon cube
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP canola oil (optional)

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender. Puree until fairly smooth, but still has a bit of chunky texture to it.

Put salsa in saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce to medium-low. Simmer uncovered until you reach consistency of a fairly thin (but not watery) salsa, stirring frequently. Depending on the juiciness of your tomatoes, this can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. 45 minutesr is about the average for store-bough tomatoes (and if you have really meaty garden tomatoes, you might have actually have to add a bit of water).

Remove from heat. Chill before serving.