New Mexican Red Chile Sauce Recipe

My sister wrote to me yesterday asking for my red chile sauce recipe.

See, I told you that chile is addictive.  She lived in New Mexico only for a couple of years, but she still enjoys the wonderful food from that state.

For those of you who don't know, both red and green chiles come from the same plant.  The green chiles are perfectly ripe and ready when they're bright green.  However, if you leave them on the plant a little longer, they begin to turn red and develop more color.  In New Mexico, red chiles are stored by stacking them along a length of rope into what is called a ristra, which is allowed to air dry, preserving the chiles.  This is a very common sight in New Mexico, numerous red ristras hanging outside the front door as the chiles dry in the autumn.


Here is the simplest and easiest Red Chile Sauce Recipe, it is made from powdered red chile:

2 T. oil
3 T. flour
4 T. red chile powder
2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt

Heat oil in a skillet, add the flour and brown very slightly. Add the red chile powder, stir, then add the water and whisk until all lumps are dissolved. Add garlic and salt. Simmer 10 minutes.

Serve this as an enchilada sauce, over eggs, potatoes, with cheese, with pinto beans, etc.  It is delicious and a true staple in our household.


For those of you who want to make red chile from the dried red chiles either from a bag at the store, or perhaps you have an authentic red chile ristra!  I don't have a picture yet to show you, but once I do, I will repost this.

Here is a link to a truly delicious Red Chile Sauce Recipe from Simply Recipes.

Santa Fe Green Chile Chicken Stew

Hatch Farms, Inc. Green Chile Enchilada Sauce, Med, 14-Ounce (Pack of 12)

I know that for those of you who haven't lived in the southwest as long as I have, this may not be a treat, but if you've lived in New Mexico for any time at all, you have probably become addicted to green chile.

It's a proven fact that the stuff is addictive! REALLY!

This is a very easy dish to make, warms you inside and out.  A real taste of good Southwestern "down home" cooking at its best.

"Almost heaven..."

We've recently moved away from NM, and while we've had a few friends make sure we don't run dry in the fresh/frozen green chile department, we do have to ration ourselves.  Tonight we're getting ready to make Santa Fe Green Chile Chicken Stew.

Start with raw chicken and veggies.  Save bits of stalks from other veggies, keep them in a big bag in the freezer and toss those in whenever you're making broth.  Really ups the vitamins!

You start with a pot of water and some chicken. This time we're using just breasts, but if I find a few whole chickens on sale, that'll work too.  Throw in some carrots, celery, onion (with the skins on to maximize favor and color), a little bay leaf and some pepper and start the cooking process.

Yep, you're going to throw away all those cooked vegetables because you've extracted all the yummy nutrients. This is a nice tricky way to get your kids to eat more nutritiously!

It really helps if you have a great stewpot like this one my hubby got for me. When I'm ready, I just pull up the handles of the strainer part, let it drain, and all the brothy goodness is still in the pan!  Great idea.


Pull the chicken off the bones.  You want to make sure you don't overcook the chicken.  Put the bones and skin back in the pot and cook for another hour or two. Be sure to refrigerate the chicken that you pulled off the bones until you're ready to put the stew together.

Once the chicken's cool, shred it and hold it in the fridge until you're ready to add the meat.

Here's what it looks like after the second simmer session.

Not lookin' beautiful yet, but the broth it has made is to die for!

Time to add the roasted green chile.

Anyone who has lived in New Mexico for any period of time recognizes this sight.  We buy BUSHELS of green chile and freeze them to use throughout the year!  This year we had some wonderful friends who supplied us with our yearly stash!

Taking the charred skin off...don't rinse all of this off as you want some of this roasted flavor!

If you're new to chile, you might want to wear gloves for this part.  Whatever you do, do NOT touch your eyes...or any other sensitive part of your body for that matter.

This seems like a lot of chile, but I'm making a BIG batch!

Make a roux of flour and butter, brown it just a little.

Melt butter for the roux, or you can use vegetable oil.

Add the flour, salt, and pepper...I think we added a little green chile powder too, it IS a bit of a strange color, but don't worry, it'll do the job just fine.

Add to the hot broth and whisk furiously until it returns to a boil.  This is lookin' pretty yummy!

Add the chicken meat back in.

Remember, you don't want to boil the chicken meat to death, otherwise it will be tough and tasteless.

Add the green chile that's been cleaned and chopped.

Warm up some tortillas and settle down for some down home New Mexican goodness.

15 seconds on each side on a hot griddle is all it takes.

Top with shredded cheese....or onion...

...or both!

Bueno!

An Apple a Day...Dixon Farm Apples

An apple a day may or may not keep the doctor away, but it is certainly an excellent bit of advice.

We just received a fantastic gift from some of our friends back in New Mexico.  Dixon Farms near Cochiti Lake in New Mexico is the home of the best apples in the entire world.  Yes, this is my own personal opinion, naturally, but anyone who has tasted their Champagne apples knows what I am talking about.

I used to buy bushels of these yellow apples and made homemade applesauce for my brand-new baby.  He's 23 now, so he must have thrived on that applesauce.

One of the biggest reasons for making my own applesauce is that I was in total control of how much salt and sugar was in the end product. By making my own baby food (and canning it) I taught my child to learn to taste the natural flavor of the food.

Did you know that salt is designed to make you eat more. It is certainly a taste enhancer, but it causes people to actually eat too much.  If you've been told to lay off the salt, do so for both your blood pressure and your weight.

The easiest way to make applesauce is to peel the apples.  (When you use organic apples, you know that you can place peels and cores in your compost pile without any concerns for lingering pesticides.) Remove the core and cut the apple into chunks of about one inch.

Fill a stainless steel pot with your apple chunks and turn the heat on medium-low. As the apples begin to heat they will sweat.  Cover the pot to retain all this fluid.  Cook gently, stirring from time to time, until the apples are completely softened.  Different varieties of apples take different amounts of time to cook until the apples are soft.  Some people like their applesauce totally smooth, in which case you need to run the cooked apples through a Foley mill.  I recommend this if you intend to use the applesauce for baby food.

Otherwise, leave a few chunks in the applesauce and it will look a little more like this:

When making applesauce, you can add a tiny bit of cinnamon, but I prefer to make my applesauce completely plain, and that way everyone can add cinnamon to their own taste.