Okay, I make a batch of my "base" sauce every August and use it all year to make other sauces, stews, etc.
I prefer doing it with fresh chile but if you buy roasted chopped chile, try to find Zia Hatch or 505 southwestern. Both use Hatch chile and you can get just chiles instead of sauce. HEB also sometimes carries a frozen brand but I couldn't find it this morning and my brain is too old to remember the name.
If you are making it from fresh chiles, roast all of them until they are blistered. I usually just put them under the broiler and turn them a couple times. I've also done them on a grill after we've cooked dinner. (When I had a gas stove, I did them directly on the burner but a friend said it looked like I was grilling a parrot.)put them in a Ziploc bag while hot and close for at least 15 minutes. This helps them steam and makes the skins easier to remove.
Now, some people are going to disagree with this part but it's the easiest way I've found to peel/deseed a large batch. Dump them out into a colander and spray them with warm water GENTLY. You just want help getting the skins off. Rinse each and pull off the stem end. How many seeds you get rid of is personal preference. We like it hot over here and there are ways to cool it off when cooking with it so I don't remove many. You don't have to be super precious about getting every bit of skin off. It won't hurt the finished product. Rough chop. They freeze really well at this point. Put them in a freezer bag and store flat. Now we can move on to the sauce.
This is for a small batch, increase as needed.
Hatch Chile Green Sauce- 1 onion, diced
- Garlic, this is to your preference. At least 4 cloves but I've never measured garlic in my life
- 2 T butter
- 1 t cumin
- 2 C chicken or veggie broth
- 2 C chopped green chile
- salt, to taste.
In a large, heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat and cook onions until clear and just starting to brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, a minute or so. Add cumin and cook another minute or so. Add green chile and salt. Add broth and increase heat to medium high. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat until you get a steady simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally for roughly 2 hours or until chiles are breaking down and sauce is thickened. Store in fridge for a week or freezer for up to a year.
Smothering sauce for burritos, etc- 1 cup green chile sauce
- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1/2 cup broth or water (if you use canned tomato, just use the liquid)
- salt and pepper to tast
Add all ingredients to a saucepan and simmer until tomato breaks down and sauce is a nice pourable consistency.
Green Chile Enchilada Sauce- 1/4 C butter
- 1/4 C flour
- 1 C broth/stock
- 1 C green chile sauce, pureed until smooth.
- salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter over medium high. Whisk in flour and cook until slightly brown and toasted. Slowly whisk in broth until smooth. Add green chile puree and stir until boiling. Add S&P as desired. Once it thickens, remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly before using on enchiladas.
That'll get you started at least. I can post my green chile stew and pozole recipes later.
