Southwest Sauce Recipes

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Spice up your Camping Recipes with Southwestern Flavors

The southwestern United States has produced some truly delicious flavors. These flavors can best be found in the sauces that accompany the delicious dishes served throughout the area. Here are a few simple and classic southwestern flavors.

Tomatillo Sauce
This is also known as Salsa Verde and is an excellent sauce to be served with dishes, but is also delicious served as a salsa with chips.

Approx. 1 lb fresh, or canned tomatillos, husked and washed
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 small jalapenos, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4-1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 tbsp lime juice, fresh or

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a bowl with ice water and set aside. When the water has come to a boil, stir in salt to taste and the tomatillos to the boiling water. Cook until the tomatillos are tender, but not mushy, approximately 9 minutes. After the tomatillos are cooked, transfer them to the ice water and allow to cool for 5-7 minutes.

Once cool, drain the tomatillos from the ice water. Place into a food processor with the other ingredients. Process lightly, the salsa should be roughly chopped, not pureed.

Chipotle Sauce
2 dried chipotle chiles
1 dried ancho chiles
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cumin

Start the sauce by discarding the stems and removing the seeds from the chiles. Rinse the chiles then bring to a boil in a small saucepan with 2 cups water. Add the onion and garlic to the water, and simmer uncovered until the chiles are softened, approximately half an hour.

Grind the cumin. Drain the chiles and vegetables, but reserve the water. Transfer to a food processor. Add the cumin and one cup of chile water, puree until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add more chile water as necessary.