My Original Mexican Lasagna Sauce
My junior year was a climax in college, as I studied abroad my first semester in Mérida, Mexico. While in Mérida, I had the fortune of boarding with a vivacious host mother who whipped up delicacies made of citrus fruits and chili peppers, reflecting the rich culinary tradition of the Yucatán Peninsula. One of the meals my host mom often made was a regional dish known as chilaquiles. This casserole, in the way she prepared it, had no sauce and little veggies, only 1 sweet pepper, 1 tomato, and a trace of onions. True to my core, it is hard for me to strictly follow a recipe, so decades later, I began experimenting with this mix of tomatoes, peppers, and onions. After tossing in a 1 lb. bag of sweet peppers, a 26 oz. can of tomatoes, and a large white onion, I stumbled across the most delicious red sauce! It soon became my base for My Original Mexican Lasagna, see recipe under Central American cuisine for my adaptation of chilaquiles.
Ingredients
- 1 -1 1b. bag of sweet peppers, like del Cabo Medley
- 1 26 oz. can chopped tomatoes, like Pomí’s
- 1 extra-large white onion
- 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ¼ t. sea salt
Directions
- Step 1 First, wash the sweet peppers and chop off the tops, slicing each pepper in half. Then, coarsely remove any pith (i.e. the white lining) from the sweet pepper and dunk them in a small bowl with water to rid of any bitter seeds. Place all the peppers in a large mixing bowl.
- Step 2 Second, dice the onion in ¼-inch pieces and add to a second mixing bowl.
- Step 3 Third, heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Then, add the sweet peppers and sauté for 5 minutes. Finally, toss in the tomatoes and cook for another 20 minutes or until the peppers are tender and cooked through.
- Step 4 Let the vegetables cool for 15 minutes or so, and then, feed them into a blender. Blend until the peppers, tomatoes, and onions form a thick purée. Season with salt, adding a little at a time. Now you have the sauce to make My Original Mexican Lasagna (see my recipe under Central American cuisine).
Decades after my junior year abroad in Mérida, Mexico, I began experimenting with an unusual take on a regional dish known as chilaquiles. From the typical mix of sweet peppers, tomatoes, and onions, I ran across a rich sauce to use for my Mexican lasagna.
Nutritional Information: