Before I left New Mexico, I watched my sister-in-law make a simple red chili sauce. She put a selection of chiles in boiling water, covered them, turned off the heat and let them sit for close to an hour to reconstitute. Then, she removed the chiles from the water, cut-off the stems, and got rid of any seeds. She put the chiles in a blender, along with a little bit of onion and garlic–enough for flavor but not enough to overpower the chiles. Then salt, and a small amount of the water to help blend. Finally, she strained it, and man, it was lovely.
See, I come here for Yankees stuff and instead I get ... hungry! Damn, looks good.
Good stuff. I came across that technique during my years of living in Chicago -- which has the largest Mexican population in the US outside of southern Cal -- that, and reading Rick Bayless's cookbooks.
I find it easier though to destem and deseed before soaking -- snip off the tops with kitchen scissors and the seeds rattle right out. Then cut the chilis into strips and then soak.
Toasting the chili strips on a dry griddle before soaking adds some depth of flavor also -- and when making a mole sauce you fry the dried strips in lard or oil before soaking.
The seeds can be toasted and ground to thicken the sauce as well, and provide a bit more bite.
Wow, that looks really good. Is that the sauce in the Chilaquiles Taster's Cherce from a few days ago? So all the red material in that sauce is chile pepper? I figured it was mainly tomato when I looked at your chilaquiles picture.
I'm just going to have to start making some of this stuff. I'll start simple, though. Anyone (Jim in Bing?) have a Mexican cookbook recommendation?
@RIYank:
I'm a big fan of Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.
His Authentic Mexican is also good.
And the classic Mexican cookbook for gringos is Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico.