Food Storage Friday: Chile Verde Burritos

 Whenever I have made chile verde sauce my family pretty much inhales it. Here's the secret to my awesome chile verde sauce: I throw in a bunch of stuff until it looks and tastes right and call it good. The recipe below is what I did most recently, but I can't guarantee that it will turn out the same next time. Peppers have a tendency to vary in flavor and hotness. You can't look at a pepper and know how potent it is going to be. If I mix everything together and it's too bland I throw in a dash of green Tabasco or sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. If it needs to be toned down a notch, I'll finely chop up 1/2 a bell pepper and add that to the sauce. May the force be with you in your endeavors.

Chile Verde Burritos
Food Storage Ingredients:
Re-fried beans
Canned pork (optional)

Fresh Ingredients:
tortillas
grated cheese (I've used cheddar, colby, monterey, pepper jack, and mozzarella, all with great results.)
sour cream
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 Anaheim peppers
3 banana peppers
4 jalapeno peppers
8 tomatillos
4 green onions, chopped

1. Remove pepper stems, leave the seeds. Remove and save tomatillo husks. Cut tomatillos in half, hamburger style. 2. Roast peppers, garlic and tomatillos until well blistered. (Generally 45 minutes @ 375. I did mine in my sun oven, and it took an hour and a half before I was satisfied with their appearance, but it's cooking times will widely vary.) 3. Puree tomatillo husks and roasted vegetables. 4. Simmer pureed pepper mixture with green onions on low for 15-20 minutes or until desired thickness. Add pork if desired. 5. Assemble burritos as desired. (Whenever I make these I like to make extras and freeze them.)

I like my green sauce to be nice and thick.

Notes: I have found that the best re-fried beans come from the LDS Church canneries; they are so delicious. (Don't worry you don't have to be LDS to buy food storage there. They love to encourage everyone to be prepared.) I also love that they are not actually re-fried and are completely fat free, unlike real re-fried beans which are made with lard. (Bleh.) I have heard people complain that they are bland, but it is all in how you cook them. According to the instructions you mix the dried bean flakes in boiling water and let them set. Before I let them set I mix in a pepper. Either a dried and crumbled Chipotle pepper, a chopped Anaheim or whatever other spicy pepper I have convenient. After the beans have absorbed the water, add a heaping teaspoon of sour cream and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. Mix it all together and it makes great burritos, improves 7 layer dip, makes an easy Mexican food side or stand alone bean dip.

When I say Anaheims I mean these beauties

 And as for Anaheims, some stores refer to them as Anaheims, others as Cubanos. I'm not sure why. And when I planted Anaheims in my garden, none of the plants I could find had pictures that looked anything like the Anaheim peppers that I am familiar with. And the peppers that grew were small and red.