Homemade Enchilada Sauce

I've always felt the true success to a great enchilada dish is the sauce.  You can absolutely go out and buy the jarred or canned versions of these and they will do just fine, but there's something comforting about making your own perfect version.  The beauty to this recipe is that you can adjust the seasoning amounts to your liking, don't like cumin, don't use it, love garlic, load it on!  

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp all purpose or gluten free flour

8 tbsp Mexican chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (I like using this brand)

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Directions

1. Heat your oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and whisk together over the heat for one minute to cook out the flour taste. 

2. Stir in the chili powder, garlic, paprika, cumin, salt and oregano and cook for 2 minutes to wake up your dried seasonings. Gradually add in the stock whisking constantly to get rid of any lumps. 

3. Add one chipotle pepper (more if you like it really spicy) as well as some of the adobo sauce (about 1 tbsp) the peppers are marinating in. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickens up. Use an immersion blender to incorporate the pepper into the sauce.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the sauce to a regular blender and blitz for a few seconds to break up the pepper.

4. Use immediately on your enchiladas or refrigerate in an air-tight container for up to two weeks. This recipe should make enough for a medium sized casserole dish worth of enchiladas as well as 2 cups to store in your fridge or freezer for another time!