This recipe is safe for work.
Every Friday, Evan’s co-workers take turns bringing a breakfast spread. We have a list on a bulletin board and an email system whereby you’re reminded kindly that it’s your week. Also, you are given the option of not participating (though really, how is that an option?)
One time the accountant brought a quiche and some Sunny D, another time 30 breakfast burritos (one no meat!) got dumped on the staff kitchen counter. But mostly, everyone goes with the safe standard of two-dozen bagels from the admittedly premium New York-style Brooklyn Bagels down the street, some light whipped cream cheese and some onion, tomato and smoked salmon lox.
Recently, I got the reminder email and so we decided to challenge the status quo a bit with some mildly spicy, greasy A.M. Mexican food — shaved veggie chilequilles with rice, beans and roasted salsa from scratch. It’s a platter that doesn’t require a full recipe run down here, but we thought it’d be a perfect time to detail how to make easy red chile sauce for enchiladas, hash or burrito drownings. This sauce mirrors the kind you can buy for a buck or two in cans, but it has more of a bite, a wonderful “from-the-ground” rustic spice to it. It’s also dirt-cheap and you save the can. Obviously, the further from the Southwest you are, the harder it is to find reliable dried red chile (like cayenne but redder and richer and less spicy) that doesn’t suck. But if you know someone in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas or Colorado, we’re sure you can figure something out.
Red Chile Sauce
1/4 canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 white onion, chopped
4 Tbs. all purpose flour
1/4 cup dried red chile
2 cups vegetable stock (warmed in microwave)
2 Tbs. sea salt
2 bay leaves
1. Heat a medium saucepan with the oil on high. Add the garlic and onion. Cook and stir for 5 minutes.
2. If it seems like the onion has used up or absorbed much of the oil, add another tablespoon or two before adding the flour slowly while you stir with a wooden spoon. This will make the oil and flour clump together in a rue.
3. Then add the red chile and let the clumpy mixture toast for 1-2 minutes before dumping in the broth. Once the sauce is up to a rolling boil, if it still seems thin (check the consistency of the sauce by running finger along wet wooden spoon) add 2 more Tbs. of flour while whisking thoroughly. Once it cools it will also thicken a bit.
4. Season and let simmer for 20 minutes.
