Josie's Hot Sauce
Breakfast tacos make a regular appearance on our weekend breakfast menu. Whether we make them with bacon, sausage, chorizo or even meatless with potatoes, the possibilities are endless and they are never not delicious.
Arguably more important than the key fillings (breakfast meat or starch of choice, lots of melty cheese and eggs) is the hot sauce. But not just any hot sauce: Josie's hot sauce. "Who is this Josie you speak of and why does she have her own hot sauce?" See my boyfriend, Cole, born and raised in SoCal where the Mexican food is bountiful, grew up on the infamous Josie's hot sauce from a family favorite, local Mexican restaurant. It was so well loved in his family that his mom practically begged the owner of this restaurant for the recipe. Sure enough, they handed it over and the hot sauce has been in the fam ever since. And the rest is history!
What makes this hot sauce so great is that it’s actually flavorful. Far too often a hot sauce is just plain spicy for the sake of burning off your taste buds (no thanks!) Instead, Josie’s hot sauce is perfectly spicy with hints of smoke and aromatic garlic. Leave it in the fridge for a few days and you'll even notice the spice and garlic flavor intensify.
What's even better is this hot sauce comes together in a mere matter of minutes with only a handful of ingredients. Try making it for yourself to have on hand to give your favorite foods a spicy kick!
Josie's Hot Sauce
Ingredients
1 oz, or about 15 dried chile de arbol
1 cup water
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic
Kosher salt, to taste
Directions
Turn oven on low broil. Line a baking sheet with dried chile de arbol and broil for about 5 minutes, until chiles are slightly toasted and start to smell fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes, then remove stems from chiles and add to a small saucepan.
Cover with 1 cup of water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add chiles and water from saucepan, whole garlic cloves and tomato sauce to a blender or an immersion blender cup. Blend until smooth. Add more water if the consistency is too thick for your liking. Just a note that it will thicken and become a bit more gelatinous after refrigerating, so you can always add more water on the second day. Season to taste with salt. Serve with your favorite foods for a spicy kick!
