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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Culinary Creations is a column that prints the last week of every month. It is written by Shawn L. Hanlin, executive chef of Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, operated by Pennsylvania College of Technology's School of Business, Arts & Sciences as a training site for students in culinary arts and baking pastry arts majors. Hanlin has been a chef for 40 years and was on Team USA for the World Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.)
Greetings, everyone!
I trust and hope you all had a pleasant holiday season. As we are still in the throes of winter, today's recipe (another from our salsa series), is a great winter salsa/sauce for this time of year, as tomatoes are out of season. This is more of a sauce, not really used to dunk chips in, necessarily (but you can, as you see, we did.) It is more of an accompaniment to items such as fish tacos, flautas, poached chicken, etc.
We'll be using dried chiles for this, specifically guajillo and ancho chiles. Anchos peppers are dried poblano peppers. They have a relatively mild, fruity flavor. Guajillos are dried mirasol peppers. Their flavor is sweet and mildly hot, with undertones of green tea. Experiment with other dried peppers; they offer complex flavors.
There are numerous kinds of dried chiles used in different cuisines, mainly Hispanic and Asian. This salsa/sauce is actually not very spicy, but has a rich, bold flavor. A little bit goes a long way.
As you see in the recipe below, we char the dried chiles after we've removed the seeds and stems. Toast them very quickly, as they will burn, but this step is important. Then they are soaked in hot water.
The process of removing the seeds and toasting the pepper mellows the heat. (Remember, the heat in a pepper is contained in the seeds and pith.) With these steps down, use them in whatever recipe you want.
Here's one - a basic version of a mole that we dished up two ways: with poached chicken and with our homemade tortilla chips (deep-fried flour tortillas):
Dried Chile Salsa
Start to finish: 40 minutes
8 dried chiles (we used a mix of ancho and guajillo)
1 bulb garlic
1 medium onion, sliced
Water, to soak
1/4 cup canned, fire-roasted tomatoes
1 bunch fresh cilantro (use more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Agave syrup, to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Lemon and lime juice
Remove the stems from the dried chiles, cut them lengthwise, and shake or scrape out the seeds.
Coat onion and garlic in olive oil.
Heat a cast-iron skillet and place garlic -- in the paper -- and onion slices on one side. Add dried chiles to the other side and press flat. Working in batches, toast the chiles for 30 seconds or less per side. (Let the garlic and onion continue to roast while you toast the chiles.)
Place toasted chiles in a large bowl and cover with warm water. Let them soak for about 30 minutes, rotating them occasionally.
Drain the chiles and discard the water.
Place chiles into a blender. Add the garlic by squeezing the cloves out of the roasted bulb. Add the onion, tomatoes, cilantro, agave syrup, the juice of one lime and half a lemon, and a few pinches of salt. Blend until smooth.
Taste and adjust seasonings: Add more agave or salt as needed.