Mesa Red Sauce

Submitted by Katzen

"The mexican "mother" sauce, to be served with quesadillas, enchiladas, huevos, etc, etc, etc... posted for ZWT5 from Rebar Modern Food Cookbook."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 4 cups
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 onion, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tablespoons masa harina
• 4 tablespoons dried ancho chile powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cracked pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 4 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups water, heated
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

directions

1. 1. Heat vegetable oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Sprinkle in the masa harina and stir constantly as it cooks and turns golden.
2. 2. Add the spices and stir for another 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the warm vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the tomato paste and sugar.
3. 3. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Season to taste.

Reviews

[COOKGIRl]

First I cut the recipe down to 1 cup yield. Chipotle powder replaced ancho powder.<br/>We used this to make fluffy egg tostadas: corn tortillas, eggs, arugula and spinach,<br/>grated carrot, cilantro and Mesa red sauce. Served with a side of pinto beans. Very good!<br/>Reviewed for Veg Tag/November.

 

[DrMommaLaelle]

I love this red sauce recipe! I lost my Rebar Cookbook after not remembering who I loaned it to. Was so excited to find the recipe here. Thank you! It's a perfect balance of spice and flavor. Made it tonight with chicken and zucchini enchiladas. Yummy!

 

[Starrynews]

Mmm, spicy and flavorful; this is delicious! I omitted the salt and ground up a corn tortilla to use for the masa harina... as I couldn't find loose masa harina, but the corn tortillas were made from it :) Thanks for sharing!

 

[White Rose Child]

This is amazing stuff!!! As I sit here, I'm dunking cold leftover quesadillas in just-cooked mesa red sauce and having a hard time not licking it off my fingers- it's sooo tasty. Hot, but full of that indispensable Mexican flavor. I ended up using kamut flour, as it was the closest thing I had to the masa farina, but it seems perfect nonetheless. Also used regular chili power- and halved the recipe, as my family isn't too big on hot spicy stuff. However, I'd be reluctant to make quesadillas again without it! Thanks for posting, Katzen!