Tamale Sauce


RECIPE/METHOD:
I learned how to make tamale sauce from a Mexican woman, and used some
to make  some incredible enchiladas while snowed in on Sunday.

INGREDIENTS
dried chiles (I used home-grown--oops, pardon the garden ref:) - extra hot anchos)
water
masa harina (corn meal works fine)
lard (oil works fine)
tomato sauce (optional)
tortillas (I used flour this time)
something for filling (I used those frozen fake mesquite chicken
breasts, cut  into slices)

SECRET SAUCE

Soak the dried chiles in warm water to cover for an hour. Remove stems
and  seeds. Put peppers and some of the soaking water in a food
processor or  blender and make a puree. Add enough water so that it's a
little thinner than  the sauce you want.

Make a roux with 1 TB masa and 1 TB oil PER CUP of puree. Cook the roux
for a  few minutes over low heat. Add the puree, and stir until
thickened. Add salt  to taste, add tomato sauce if it's a little bitter
or to make it go farther.

ENCHILADAS

Quickly fry the needed tortillas in oil, long enough to soften, but not
long  enough to crispen. Wrap them around your chosen filling (at room
temperature  or slightly warm), and put them in a casserole that has a
little sauce in the  bottom. (You can do the wrapping and rolling _in_
the casserole--then they get  a bit of sauce all over.) Cover well with
sauce, and bake (about 15 minutes at  350, uncovered--maybe longer if
you've got cheese in your filling).

NOTES: It's the corn component that makes this sauce special, IMHO. What
I liked about what I made Sunday was how well the mesquite flavor
(albeit  phony) went with that dark, bittersweet sauce.

Eileen Anderson
From the Chile-Heads Recipe Collection
http://neptune.netimages.com/~chile/recipes.html