Mexican Red Sauce

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 3 dried ancho chiles or 2 ancho chilies
• 2 guajillo chilies, only use these if you are using ancho's
• water
• 1 large garlic clove
• 2 cloves, whole, crushed
• 2 peppercorns, black, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
• olive oil

Recipe

• 1 working on one chile at a time, use a kitchen shears to cut a slit all the way down one side of a chile. open up the chile and remove the stem and seeds. remove as much of the veins as you can. reserve a few of the seeds or veins for adding later if you want added heat.
• 2 heat a large skillet on medium heat. flatten out the dried chilies as well as you can and place on the skillet to heat. press down on the opened chilies with a metal spatula for a few seconds. you may hear some sizzle or popping. you do not want to toast or burn the chilies, just heat them enough to draw out more of the flavor.
• 3 add the chilies to a small saucepan and add enough water so that they are just covered. bring to a boil. remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes, until the chilies have softened and plumped up. (or pour place the chilies in a small saucepan and pour boiling water over them to cover. let sit for 15 minutes, until softened.).
• 4 reserving the soaking water, remove the chilies from the pan and place in a blender. add the garlic, salt, ground pepper, ground cloves, and 1 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid (taste the soaking water first, if it seems bitter, use water or even broth instead). purée for 2 minutes, until the sauce is completely smooth. taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. if you want more heat, add in a few of the seeds or veins and purée some more. add more salt if needed.
• 5 pour the sauce through a sieve into a skillet. add a tablespoon of olive oil to the sauce. bring to a simmer and reduce heat to maintain the simmer, cook for 10 minutes. skim off the foam. remove from heat. use immediately or pour into a glass jar (plastic will get stained) and refrigerate.