Sauce: From-scratch Enchilada Red

In this kitchen-made enchilada red sauce, Roma tomatoes and onions are roasted and pureed with a combination of fresh garlic, oregano and dried spices.

I’ve never been a fan of enchilada red sauce until last week. True story.

Remember this no-red-sauce-enchilada-recipe? It was a post where I declared my strong dislike for red sauce and how I was determined to create an enchi-recipe that didn’t call for the blessed sauce.

Well after years of thinking about it, I figured out why I’m not a fan. It’s because it’s from a can and resembles [in my humble opinion] a boring take on tomato sauce. Which then lead me to wondered how it would taste if I made it in a home kitchen. What if I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned? And what if I roasted them? What if I used a combination of fresh herbs and dried, jarred spices? What if it turns out Worth the pot that I find out I actually do like it?

I was on a mission to make a from-scratch enchilada red sauce.

So that’s exactly what I did. I made a from-scratch-from-scratch-not-your-typical-canned-enchilada-sauce enchilada sauce. Fresh tomatoes and onions are roasted and blended with fresh oregano, garlic and spices. It’s pretty darn unfussy, maybe not as unfussy as opening a can but unfussy enough to make early on and use later that day or week for dinner. Oh and guess what? Me likey.

Start by halving 10 good-sized roma tomatoes.

Quarter a medium onion. I’m using a vidalia… but any onion will do.

Arrange them on a rimmed, aluminum sheet pan cut-side up.

Drizzle with couple tablespoons of olive oil…

Season with 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper. Slide this sheet pan of goodness into a preheated 375 degree oven and roast for 40-45 minutes.

While the tomatoes and onions are roasting you can get going on the spice mixture. You’ll need garlic, fresh oregano {which I’m SO glad I planted this year}, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper.

Roughly chop up two medium cloves of garlic.

In an 8-inch skillet drizzle a tablespoon or so of olive oil.

Drop in the garlic cloves and sauté over medium heat. Stir the garlic around in the pan a few times until it’s fragrant and particularly lightly golden.

Strip the leaves from a few stems of fresh oregano until you have about two tablespoons.

Add it to the pan with the garlic…

…along with the spices. Depending on how spicy you want it, add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the cayenne.

Stir and return the pan to the stove-top. Cook, stirring often until the spices give off a toasty fragrance. Remove the pan from the heat and set off to the side.

Once the tomatoes and onions are beautifully roasted and your kitchen is smelling all kinds of standout; remove…

…and carefully scrape the tomatoes, onions and ALL their juices into the bowl of a large food processor.

Dump in the garlicky-oregano spice blend…

Squeeze in the juice of half a large and luscious lemon [or one small]. Season with a teaspoon of kosher salt, more or less to taste…

And blend until combined.

That’s it! I still have the jars in my fridge and I’ve mad-plans to make simple enchiladas later today before my daughter’s softball game.

So can you only imagine how good this Kitchen-made Enchilada Red Sauce will be after spending some time in the fridge? Time in the fridge will only aid in melding flavors, enhancing an already fabulous enchi-red sauce.

More on that, to come.

If you’re looking for a 15-minute, semi-kitchen-made enchilada sauce, try this dish.

Enjoy! And if you give this dish a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!