Red Enchilada Sauce

My stepdaughter Morgan made this enchilada sauce this afternoon.  She'll be using it to make a chicken enchilada casserole.  This sauce has a beautiful deep red color, is full of flavor, and is easy to make.  It has a nice, smooth consistency, both when warm and when cooled.  It's just perfect for enchiladas and enchilada casseroles.

Morgan used regular old chili powder, Sprout's organic version, which is very mild.  I can envision experimenting with flavor options using specific varieties or blends of chile powders to taste.

You can make this with chicken broth or make a vegan version with veggie broth.  Morgan used Pacific brand low sodium organic chicken broth.  Obviously homemade chicken or veggie broth would add more flavor, but we don't have any homemade on hand at the moment.  No one will ever mistake me for Martha Stewart!

Here's the recipe, slightly adapted from a recipe on gimmesomeoven.com:

Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
2 T flour
4 T chili powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t oregano
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
6 oz. tomato paste

Directions:

Heat oil in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add flour and whisk together over the heat until the mixture turns golden brown, at least one minute.  Stir in the remaining seasonings (chili powder through oregano).  Gradually add in the broth, whisking constantly to remove lumps.  Add the tomato paste and whisk to blend.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes until sauce thickens.

Use immediately or refrigerate.

Chilean Sea Bass With Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes And Hatch Chile Peppers

This dish has so many things I embrace wholeheartedly:  fish caught using sustainable methods, locally grown cherry tomatoes, and seasonal Hatch chile peppers.  This is Chilean Sea Bass from trusted local supplier TJ's Fresh Seafood Market, which sources its seafood responsibly; cherry tomatoes from one of the local, organic farmers at the Coppell Farmers Market; and roasted seasonal Hatch chile peppers from Central Market.

This isn't really a recipe, more of a suggestion.  The fish, three portions approximately 6 oz. each, was sprinkled on all sides with Penzey's Ruth Ann's Muskego Ave Chicken and Fish Seasoning, a blend of salt, black pepper, garlic, lemon peel, and onion.  Any subtle seasoning like that would work well.  The fish is so nice it doesn't need to be overpowered by spices.  I  rinsed a bunch of cherry tomatoes.  I removed the blackened skin, stems, and seeds from a couple of mild Hatch chile peppers and diced them.

I heated a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for a long time to make sure that it was evenly heated, coated it with good olive oil (in this case a basil-infused Texas olive oil), then added the Chilean Sea Bass filets.  (Interestingly enough, Chilean Sea Bass is neither bass nor Chilean.  Check out this Wikipedia article if you're interested in knowing more:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish.)

The filets were really thick, maybe 2", so I cooked them skin-side-down for almost 10 minutes, then flipped them and cooked about 5 more minutes.  It's a relatively fatty fish, so it's pretty forgiving if you "overcook" it.  I removed the cooked filets from the skillet, put them on a plate, and tented it with aluminum foil.

I put the pretty yellow cherry tomatoes and diced Hatch chiles in the skillet and cooked them, giving everything a good stir now and again, until most of the tomatoes burst, then poured in the juices that had accumulated on the plate the fish was resting on and stirred that in.  Then I just plated and served.

This is a quick, easy, healthy, and responsible dinner that anyone can make in no time.  There's little prep and few ingredients.  High quality, sustainable fish isn't cheap; however, its flavor is so good you only need a small portion.  Plus when you eat well you're making an investment in your future health and the health of our planet.