Saucy: Chile Verde Sauce

Whenever there are particular products on sale I like to bulk up. I am pretty sure you do too. You can save quite a bit of money when you buy items on sale! You can also save money when you get the chance to make particular food items from scratch! I love to make sauces from scratch. Sauces that my mother taught me, that my grandmothers taught me and that my friends and relatives have taught me. These lessons in food all have memories for me.

I grew up with my mother making green chile enchiladas for dinner on special occasions. Practically everything was made from scratch; but what I remember most was helping my mother make the Chile Verde Sauce in big batches and freezing leftovers for future meals.

From there I was able to work the sauce to my liking and make my own version of the sauce that my mom taught me and share it with my friends. Since then I have had many great experiences with different friends in the kitchen, teaching how to make the sauce and then canning or freezing large batches of it to split for future dinners or future tamale making days. In the kitchen you can learn so much about someone. Its because of sauces like these that I have made so many wonderful friends.

So I share it with you here...

Chile Verde Sauce

*This recipe will help you make about 1-3 servings or 3-4 large Ziploc bags for the freezer, or 6 large canning jars.*

Ingredients:

10-15 pounds of tomatillos (washed and husk removed)

1 Jalapeno

1 Medium Yellow Onion Cut in Half

2 Bouillon Cubes (Chicken or Vegetarian Vegetable)

Tools:

Stock Pot

Water for pot

Stove

Strainer

Blender

Bowl

Ziploc bags for freezing or storing or Canning Supplies if canning

So we start out with the tomatillo. Such a neat looking veggie if you ask me...or is it a fruit? Anyways, I always try to buy these when they are at the bargain price of 2 pounds for one dollar. Then I buy about 50+ pounds. Now you can see why it would be good to have a friend over to share the load (and the wealth).

For regular spice (mild) you want to have one jalapeno. The jalapeno does add flavor. If you need more spice add another one. boil a few if you feel like you will need to have a few on hand just in case you don't consider the sauce spicy enough.

And one onion.

Now here is where I differ from my mother recipe. My mom used broth for her flavoring; but I just use these babies for two reasons: One, the more broth the thinner the sauce and I like mine to be a bit thicker (if you need it thinner later you can always add to it), and two, these cubes pack alot of good flavor, not to mention that I was a vegetarian for many years and I had to figure out other options to make my sauces!

Then you wash and take those husks off the tomatillos like so...

Add your ingredients to your stock pot.

Fill that pot up!

Set the pot on the stove and set the temperature to high to get the water boiling.

Once that waters boiling, set it to low or medium low (depending on your stove), cover and let it cook...till you see this...

 Oh yeah...its ready...This takes about 20-30 minutes.

I realized that I forgot to take a picture of me staining out the water. so remember to do that and then add your tomatillos and other ingredients into the blender (don't forget to take the stem off the jalapeno before blending).

 

Look at that!

You may have to blend a few batches and then mix it all together in a bowl or if you have a hand blender you can mix it all up right in your stock pot! I really need to get one of those...they are great for making sauces.

Then you have this...its beautiful, fragrant, and TASTY! Try in these two items I posted about:

Green Enchiladas

Chile Verde Salsa

In future posts I will share the many items you can make with this wonderful sauce...In the meantime, try it out, tell me what you think and make some with your friends!

                                    Buen Provecho!

~Misguided Maiden