Enchilada Sauce

The other day my husband told me that he had been craving enchiladas and thought that we should add them to our weekly dinner menu.  Sure I thought....super easy and with this being the last week of school we have a pretty busy schedule so easy fits perfectly.  And then he threw out the "but"......"But...do you think you could make a sauce?"  See there are two types of store bought sauces that my family is really not big fans of.  One being enchilada and the other is alfredo. (One day soon I will share my solution to the alfredo  dilemma.)  When we eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant they always order beef enchiladas and eat it all.

So off to my laptop I went in search of enchilada sauce recipes.  I spent a good hour looking and reading over a few....and honestly looking for the ones that listed ingredients that I either had or knew my local grocery store would have.  However, most stores do have great international food aisles these days.  After reading over a few I decided that I would just gather ingredients that I knew my boys would accept and made sauce.  Both boys like spicy.....but not too spicy.....so we tend to make it spicy and then my husband takes his to the next level of spice to please him.

As each boy walked through the door they asked what we were having for dinner.  When I answered them they both made a face and said...."with that gross sauce?"  When I told them that I had made my own sauce they both looked at me and raised a skeptical brow.  So I gave them a tortilla chip and told them to try it.  I decided that when they grabbed another chip and began dipping.....they approved.

This was the sauce that was left after preparing the enchiladas.  I have to admit I hadn't planned on blogging and sharing this because really.....it's just sauce.   But in the words of my teenager...."Mom, this is totally blog worthy!" 

Enchilada Sauce

 

1/2 of a large sweet onion, chopped

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp flour

1 15 oz can diced tomato, with green chilies

1 15 oz can diced tomato, fire roasted

2 1/2 cups chicken broth 

 

1.  Add oil to dutch oven or heavy bottom pan.  Heat to medium and then add chopped onion.  Saute for 5-7 minutes until onions are tender.

 

2.  Add garlic, chili powder, oregano and cumin....stirring constantly to make sure that the garlic doesn't burn.  Cook for 2 minutes.

 

3.  Add the flour, stirring to make sure that the flour is well combined.  Cook another 2 minutes.

 

4.  Add tomatoes and chicken broth.  Bring to boil.  Simmer, stirring to combine all ingredients.  Sauce will begin to thicken.  Will take about 15 minutes.

 

5.  Allow sauce to cool a bit and then use a food processor or blender to blend the sauce to make it  smooth. 

 

 

I filled my tortillas with ground beef that had about 1/2 cup of the sauce mixed with it.  Lay the rolled tortillas into a pan and ladle the sauce over top.

 

 

I have a feeling that I will be making a lot of this sauce in the future.  I gave the remaining sauce to my dad to have.  My mom doesn't care for enchilada sauce at all She will buy a can and pour it on a burrito for my dad occasionally.  So when I told her I was making this sauce....she reminded me that she didn't care for that type of sauce.  Hmmm....I think I may have changed her mind.  She called shortly after I had given her the jar and she told me that it was really good....and she may need to get that recipe.  One less enchilada sauce hater....my job here is done!

 

 

Happy Tuesday My Friends!