Salsa and Red Chili Sauce Recipes from Linda Ronstadt
alison ashton
This thick green chili tomato sauce from the singer-songwriter Pretty Ronstadt‘s new book, It feels like home: A song for the border of Sonora (on sale Oct. 4), features Anaheim chiles, a key ingredient in Sonoran desert food. “Anaheim chiles are a great cross-border chile, popular throughout southwestern and northern Mexico,” says Ronstadt. “They’re about six inches long and they’re not terribly hot, but they’re deliciously essential, whether they’re fresh and green or dried and red.” She serves this sauce with carne asada (grilled steak).
And one thing you’ll never find in Ronstadt’s kitchen? Supermarket sauce. “A lot of people in Tucson cook with a brand of red chili sauce that comes in a jar,” she notes. “I never liked it”. Making your own, using the family recipe featured in Rondstadt’s new memoir, takes a little more effort than store-bought sauce, but it’s worth it, she promises.
Red chile sauce is the backbone of many dishes in the Sonoran desert, says Ronstadt, appearing on everything from enchiladas and tamales to braised beef and pork. You can find the dried chiles, along with the Mexican oregano (it has bright citrus notes compared to the Mediterranean variety), in many supermarkets, in any Mexican supermarket, and of course online.
This produces a thick, earthy, almost pasty sauce, and depending on the recipe it’s used in, you can thin it with chicken or beef broth to your desired consistency.
Related: Linda Ronstadt Talks To parade On her songs, Losing Her Voice and her new book and album
[Adapted from Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands by Linda Ronstadt and Lawrence Downes, with photographs by Bill Steen © 2022. Excerpted with permission from Heyday.]
