Roasted Asparagus with Creamy Arbol Chili

This is a Rick Bayless recipe, except he uses pasilla chili, a mild chili similar to ancho chili, for the sauce. I have had a bag of red dried arbol chile pepper for a long time. Chile de Arbol is also known as bird’s beak chile or rat’s tail chile. It stands out with a distinctive bright red color, even when it is dried. I use it mostly as substitute for cayenne pepper. Cut them up crosswise like rings of fire. They pack a ton of heat. I want to find more ways to use these dried chili peppers. Making a creamy sauce with some heat whets my appetite. Moreover, participating in this week’s greens challenge at IHCC, I decide to bolster a dish of roasted asparagus with the creamy arbol chili.

Take note. One of the easiest, foolproof and delicious way to cook asparagus is to roast them in a 400°F oven for about ten minutes. (In fact, Rick Bayless recommends this roasting method.) This is my favorite method for preparing asparagus. I do it all the time. There is nothing complicated than laying the asparagus spears in a single layer on a sheet pan  and seasoning them with salt, pepper and olive oil. The asparagus invariably come out of the oven with a glistening green color — delectable, crispy outside and tender to the bite. When you start smelling the roasting asparagus, stand by. The asparagus will be ready in short order.

You have the option of grilling the asparagus, which is not available to me now. The outdoor grill is buried under deep snow from the recent Nor’esters pummeling our area. Anyhow, heating the oven takes less time than firing up the grill on a regular day.

The recipe calls for Mexican crema or crème fraiche. Well, I resorted to the preferred route of making the crème fraiche from scratch. The homemade version is surprisingly effortless, inexpensive and wholesome. Get a clean mason jar and put in the heavy cream and yogurt. Shake it well and wait for the natural fermentation to work its magic. No cooking, blending or straining. Just allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for a few hours. See the recipe below for details. The crème fraiche comes out like whipped cheese. It is not as dense as the store-bought variety. This homemade stuff is amazing!

I used the crème fraiche to prepare the chili cream sauce for the roasted asparagus. I can see using this sauce as condiment or dip for vegetables or seafood. The cream tempers the heat of the arbol chili, bringing nuance and balance to any food you put the creamy chili sauce on. I have good reason to make a big jar of this.

Roasted asparagus with creamy arbol chili sauce and chili-onion mixture

Print Recipe

Roasted Asparagus with Creamy Arbol Chili

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (plus a little more for the pasilla and asparagus)
• 1 medium onion, sliced ¼-inch thick
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 medium (about 1 ounce total)dried pasilla (negro) chile, stemmed and seeded
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema or crème fraiche
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon vinegar—practically any kind will work here, though a dark one like balsamic will underscore the pasilla flavor
• 1 large bunch (about 1 pound) asparagus

Instructions

1

In a medium (3-quart) saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil, then add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until very soft and richly golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring nearly constantly, for a minute or so, until soft and very aromatic.

2

While the onion is cooking, use a pair of kitchen scissors (or a sharp knife) to cut the pasilla chiles crosswise into thin strips no wider than about ¼ inch.

3

When the onion-garlic mixture is ready, use a slotted spoon to scoop half of it into a blender jar, the other half into a small bowl—leaving behind as much oil as possible. Add more oil to the pan if necessary to coat the bottom nicely and return to medium heat. Add the chile strips and cook, stirring non-stop, until the chiles have changed color (the interior will lighten noticeably) and they have filled your kitchen with their distinctive toasty aroma. Too much toasting will yield bitterness in the sauce; too little toasting won’t allow these chiles to give all they have.

4

Scoop half the toasted chiles into the blender, the other half on top of the onions. Add the crema or crème fraiche to the blender and blend until completely smooth—this will take a minute or two. Scrape your pasilla crema back into the saucepan, stir in about 1 tablespoon water to give it an easily spoonable consistency, taste and season with salt, usually about ¼ teaspoon.

5

To the onion mixture in the bowl, stir in the vinegar, taste and season with a sprinkling of salt.

6

When you’re ready to serve, heat a gas grill (or grill pan) to medium or light a charcoal fire and let it burn until medium hot. Trim the bottom of the asparagus: you can cut off the woody ends with a knife, but my stand method is to hold each spear firmly between my two hands and gently bend it until it snaps, which will be exactly at the point where the asparagus starts being really tender; I save the bottoms to blend into soup. Brush or spray the asparagus tops with oil, sprinkle with salt, and grill, turning regularly, until crisp-tender.

7

Divide the grilled asparagus among 4 plates, warm the sauce a little, spoon it over the asparagus, then sprinkle with the pasilla-onion mixture and you’re ready to serve.

Notes

Adapted from Rick Bayless's website (http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/grilled-asparagus-with-creamy-pasilla-chile/)