Tag Archives: Sauce

Grilled Pizza – Pulled Pork and Green Chile Sauce

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

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We are having an unusually warm winter and are counting our lucky stars that we live in sunny AZ and not on the east coast or Midwest! Since it has been in the mid 70’s the last few weekends we have pulled out the pizza stone and are back to grilling pizzas. Yea!

A few years ago Mr. E got this great pizza stone that sits on a metal stand that then goes directly on the BBQ grill. He will turn the heat on the grill really high to get the stone super-hot. Then when he slides the pizza on the stone and closes the BBQ lid, it is so hot it makes an awesome crust and cooks really quick.

The part that makes this pizza super yummy is that it goes beyond the pepperoni, mushroom, veggie, pineapple and ham pizza. (Yes, I do believe pineapple and ham pizza can be good but only if you pick off and eat all the pineapple first, then give the ham to Mr. E or the dogs and just eat the cheese pizza by itself.)

Imagine with me…a pizza with a tomatillo green chile sauce, pulled smoked pork, jack cheese, and caramelized onions. A little different, yes, but super delish 🙂 (Mr. E is staring at me while I write this and I can hear him thinking: “Mmmmmm…pizza…beer…yummmm”.)

Pizza

Tomatillo green chile sauce is super easy to make and it freezes really well.   It’s also good on tacos, chicken enchiladas, pork stew or anything you want to give a little flair to.

I take a short cut and buy canned tomatillos and then use hand blender to puree them.

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The second key ingredient is roasted green chiles. If you can get freshly roasted chiles definitely use those.  I would not recommend purchasing the canned green chiles unless you have no choice. This is one of those ingredients that I really think makes a difference when cooking.  There is something about the canned roasted chiles that does affect a recipe and makes the results less good.  Roasting fresh chiles is not hard and they freeze really well if you wanted to do a bunch at a time.

While the sauce was cooking we thinly sliced some sweet onion (I only buy the sweet onions, they aren’t as bad as the yellow) and slowly cooked them in a pan with lots of butter, some salt and pepper until they were caramelized. We also shredded some already cooked pork and grated the jack cheese.  Once the sauce was done, we assembled the pizza (minus the onion) and brushed the edges with garlic butter. We added the caramelized onion at the very end because otherwise they burn to a crisp – we learned that the hard way.

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Green Chile Sauce

5 tomatillos
1 quart chicken broth
1¼ – 1½ lbs roasted green chiles, seeded, skin removed and chopped
2 teaspoons onion, minced
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 garlic clove minced
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
 
Puree the tomatillos using a blender or food processor.  Add the pureed tomatillos, chiles, onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper to a pot.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Mix the cornstarch and water together in a small dish to make a slurry and then add to the pot; stirring well.  Simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened a bit about 10 minutes.
 
Enjoy!  

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

30 Saturday Mar 2013

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EnchiladasSo, I’m a halfy – half a British, Irish, French mix and half Mexican.  Growing up we ate a lot of Americanized Mexican food – until I began cooking for myself I thought that the only way to season a lot of meals was to use a Lawry’s packet! (Fajita, Enchilada, Taco, etc.).  And there is nothing wrong with that! In fact, I still use the taco and fajita packets on occasion because the seasoning mixes are so tasty!

But…I have moved away from the enchilada sauce packet, not because it isn’t good, but because homemade is SO MUCH BETTER! (It also freezes fantastically so there is no reason not to make a bunch and freeze it).  Mr. E is reading over my shoulder right now and he has asked me to underline the “so much better” and add more exclamation points…I’m telling him I think the all caps is enough and that you all get that we “really like it”. LOL  I will share that Mr. E says (almost) every time I make it that he didn’t even like enchilada sauce until he tried mine.  🙂 Aww – he’s so sweet!

There aren’t that many ingredients in enchilada sauce…

Enchilada Sauce Ingrediants

It does require a few different “tools” and you will have a bit of a mess afterwards, but as Mr. E says – it’s totally worth it. (He does all of the dishes, so I can completely agree with this statement 🙂 ).You’ll need a blender, small mesh colander, and then some regular items like a rubber spatula, pan, measuring cups and spoons, big bowl.

The first step is to break the tops off the dried red chili peppers and throw them away. Rinse the chilies well to get out all the seeds.  It’s to taste how many mild and hot peppers you use, but even if you like really mild chili flavor, I suggest throwing in at least 1-2 of the hot’s just because of how the flavors meld.

In a big metal or glass bowl add the rinsed chilies and 3 cups boiling water.  Place a cover over the bowl and let steep.

Chilies

After the chilies are soft you’ll blend all of the ingredients together.  I think the skin on the chilies can add a bitter taste to the sauce, so I use a small mesh colander to strain the sauce through before adding to the pan.  I ladle about a cup at a time into the colander and then use a spatula to push the sauce through and toss the skin that collects in the colander.

Chili Skin

After that, I let it cook for about 10 minutes and then either begin making enchiladas or let it cool to freeze for later use.  I often double or triple this recipe and then freeze it in smaller portions so we always have sauce on hand.

Sauce

Enchilada Sauce

10-12 dried mild and hot red Chilies (ratio example: 8 mild and 4 hot)
3 cups boiling water
¼ cup tomato paste       
1 small garlic clove, peeled
¼ cup vegetable oil
1½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
¼ teaspoon cumin
 
Break off the tops of dried chilies and rinse thoroughly, getting all of the seeds out.  Place in a large heat proof bowl and add the 3 cups boiling water.  Place a cover over the bowl and let steep 10 minutes.   
 
In a blender add softened chilies, tomato paste, garlic clove, vegetable oil, salt, Mexican oregano, cumin, 1½ to 2 cups of the chili water and then 1 to 1½ cups of plain water (the total amount of water should equal 3 cups) .  The amount of chili water you add is dependent on taste and how flavorful you want the enchilada sauce.  I typically use 2 cups of the chili water and then 1 cup plain water.  Blend a minute or two. 
 
Using a small mesh colander held over a sauce pan, ladle some of the sauce into the colander.  Using a spatula press the sauce through the colander, this helps to collect the skin from the chilies.  Keep repeating this process, occasionally dumping the skin remnants into the trash and rinsing the colander when it gets to full, until the blender is empty.
 
Turn stove on medium and simmer 10 minutes, if the sauce gets too thick, add more water. Add more salt to taste and if it’s not quite what you’re used to, add a teaspoon or so of the Lawry’s enchilada seasoning. 🙂 In the past I have done it on occasion and it’s really good too!  Enjoy!