Enchilada Sauce!

Homemade enchilada sauce!  Doesn't that just sound like fun?  And - I braved the pressure cooker (you know, that terrifying kitchen tool that can "blow up" if used improperly) to cook black beans in only 10 minutes!  Overall, delicious dinner.  Even Geoff liked it, despite it's lack of meat.

2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 C water
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt
2 C vegetable broth
2 tsp dried oregano or 2 Tbsp fresh
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Place chiles in 2 C water and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.  Remove chiles from water.  Reserve 1 C cooking water.

Saute onion, garlic, and a little salt until golden.  Add broth, oregano, tomato paste, and cumin.  Cook 8 minutes.  Pour into blender.  Add chiles and 1 C reserved cooking water to blender.  Blend till smooth.  Add lime juice and ground red pepper.

I used this with black bean enchiladas: 1 can black beans (or 1 1/2 C cooked beans - about 3/4 C dry beans) some green onions, and 1 C cheese.  Roll them in tortillas.  Bake topped with sauce and a little grated cheese.  Delicious!

A note on tomato paste:  I run into recipes that call for a few Tbsp of tomato paste all the time.  If I don't have an immediate plan on how to use the remaining tomato paste, I freeze the remaining paste in1 Tbsp quantities ice cube trays.  Once it's frozen, pop them into a bag and use as needed.

As for the black beans:  I soaked them the night before (so they soaked for about 16 hrs).  Discard all the soaking liquid and rinse thoroughly.  Cook in pressure cooker with 4 C water and 1 Tbsp olive oil per 1 C beans.  I read that without the olive oil, the beans will have too much foam and you run the risk of clogging the pressure cooker vent and causing a disaster.  So throw your health concerns out the window and use the oil.  Mine were good in 10 minutes.