Beef & Butternut Squash in Swarthy Pasilla-Honey Sauce
Recipe from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.
This sauce is simply amazing. I’d never tasted Pasilla chiles before making this and was pleasantly surprised. It is sweet, smoky, and earthy in the best ways possible. After adding honey you might even think there was molasses or hidden in there. Use whatever meat and variety of squash you like. These chiles are not very spicy so after you’re finished you may want to add a few red pepper flakes if you like to sweat while you eat.
We used cubes of beef & butternut squash, you can use whatever meat and squash or potatoes you’d like.
- 6 cloves unpeeled garlic
- 6 dried pasilla chiles
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable broth
- 2 1/2 – 3 cups sweet potato, pumpkin, acorn squash, or butternut squash. Pealed & cut into 1 inch cubes.
- 1/3 cup honey
- salt
- a few rings of onion
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds well-trimmed boneless lamb, pork, or beef cut into 1 inch cubes
First make the pasilla seasoning paste:
- Remove seeds & stems from the pasilla chiles, cut them open so they can lay somewhat flat, they’ll want to curl up.
- Cook the chiles for a few short minutes on each side, flip when they crackle or send up a wisp of smoke. It helps to smash them down with a spatula.
- Roast the unpeeled garlic for about 15 minutes, until soft.
- Put the chiles in a bowl and cover with boiling water, allow to rehydrate for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Drain chiles, but keep 1/4 cup of the water.
- Use food processor or blender to blend chiles, leftover water, garlic, oregano, pepper, and cumin into a smooth paste.
- Put some oil on a hot, heavy skillet. Brown your meat in small, uncrowded batches.
- Add all cooked meat and chile paste to the pan. Cook it while stirring frequently for about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the broth, cover partially and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Add sweet potato (or whatever you’re using), stir, continue simmering until everything is tender, about 35 minutes.
- Add about 1/4 cup honey, stir, add onion, salt to taste
We served with refried black beans and warm tortillas.
