Mi Salsa es tu Salsa Part II

A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sounds like my love life. Ha! No, just kidding. A good series of books (I have them all), even if the ending was disappointing. I mean, that’s it? No “happy ever after”? I mean, so they don’t have to worry about Count Olaf anymore. Big deal. Seriously, they had a better chance of getting off that island than Gilligan.

But the food! The only book that comes even close to peeking my culinary curiosity is Harry Potter and even that’s a stretch. J.K. Rowling’s use of food in her books is incredible (and I’ll happily admit HP is what got me started on this little venture) even if 90% of what she writes about is true English food.

Lemon Snicket, on the other hand, could easily have been a chef. Who else would come up with an entire restaurant based on salmon and call it Café Salmonella. Kind of reminds me of a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix (N. 7th Ave, I think?) called La Cucaracha (The Cockroach).

So, the other day my sister asked me about authentic enchilada sauce. Luckily for me, Lemony Snicket mentioned just the same thing! Well, sort of. While the kids where in the Vile Village, a man named Hector took care of them and made them a dinner of enchiladas like his mom had made for him.

Being from Arizona, I love a good enchilada. I hate bad ones, but that goes without saying…even though I just did. My mom made enchiladas with a great creamy sauce with green chilies. Unfortunately, she never wrote down the recipe and changes it every time she makes it depending on what she has on hand and that makes it difficult to include it, but I’ll do my best!

I’ve also included a couple of other traditional sauces I think you should try. The Red Chili Sauce (Salsa Roja), is the spiciest. (Don't believe those who think green is hotter!!!) If you don’t want to take the time to cook the chicken and roll the enchiladas, you can buy those frozen chicken taquitos, Just be sure to thaw them out first. I’m dreaming of Jordan’s on Central Ave again (even though it’s closed)!

Cooking the Chicken -
3 lbs chicken
2 Bay leaves
10 whole peppercorns

Put everything in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil then reduce the heat a little and let it simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Pull the chicken out of the water, put it on a large plate, and let it cool. The chicken should be tender and break apart easily with a fork. Shred it into thin pieces. Save the water in the pot.

In a large bowl, mix the chicken together with:

1 bunch green onions, chopped - white and green parts together
1 4 oz can chopped olives or 1 6 oz can whole olives, chopped

Roll this mixture into corn tortillas with a sprinkle of cheese and place then in a casserole dish. Cover with the sauce of your choice and more cheese. Bake, covered with foil, at 325° F for 25-30 minutes.

Creamy Enchilada Sauce -
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of milk
2 4 oz cans diced green chilies
2 tablespoons sour cream

Salsa Verde (Green Chili Sauce) -

Before we start there are several things you should know. It’s best to use the canned green chilies. Roasting chilies involves rubbing them with oil, putting them on a hot grill until completely black, putting them in a bowl and covering with plastic to let them steam in their own heat for an hour or two and then rubbing off the burnt skin. Way too much effort even for adults. However, if you want to go through all that trouble, the taste is totally worth it. Also, using canned tomatillos is totally acceptable because blanching them involves peeling off the paper-like skin, cooking them in hot boiling salted water for two minutes and immediately cooling them in an ice water bath. Again, if you want to do that it is totally worth the effort. If you have a tomato garden and you have some nice green tomatoes, those work just fine instead of tomatillos. They are not related in any way (even though they look the same), but the flavors are very similar. You don’t even have to blanch them. Finally, you don’t have to clean the seeds out of the Poblano chilies because they aren’t all that hot. At least not to me! If you want some heat, add a jalapeño or two. If you are feeling brave, you don’t have to clean the seeds out of that one either. Now, let’s get started!

1 T Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, chopped
2 fresh Poblano chilies, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 8oz can green chilies or 10 - 12 roasted fresh Anaheim chilies
1 7 oz can tomatillos or ½ lb fresh tomatillos cleaned, blanched and cut in quarters
1 14 oz can chicken or vegetable broth
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine
1 T lime juice
salt and pepper

In a medium-sized sauce pan, heat the olive oil just a little. Sauté the onions, Poblanos, garlic, cumin and oregano until the onions get soft and the garlic and spices start to sweat. Put this mixture in a food processor with the roasted chilies, tomatillos and half of the broth and blend until smooth. Put all this back into the same sauce pan with the rest of the broth and bring the sauce to a simmer. Let the sauce cook for about five minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper. Taste it and add a little more salt and pepper if needed.


Salsa Roja (Red Chili Sauce) -

8-10 dried large red chilies (or ½ C red chili powder)
2 cups boiling water
1 T olive oil
1 T flour
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 8 oz can (1 cup) tomato sauce - optional
Dash of salt

In a bowl, combine the dried chilies and boiling water. After the water has cooled and the chilies are nice and soft, pull the stems off and then puree the chilies with the water. In a saucepan, warm up the olive oil a little. If the oil is too hot, you’ll burn the spices. Add the cumin and oregano and cook, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes until the spices start to sweat. Add the flour and keep stirring until mixed well and you have a nice paste. Add the pureed chilies (and tomato sauce, if you like) and stir until the paste is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add a little salt and taste to make sure it‘s right. If you use chili powder, there’s no need to puree anything.