Feeds 6
There’s going to be disagreement here. This classic Tex-Mex red sauce, delicious and thick with red chiles and great spices, is fantastic slathered over chicken enchiladas. Most everyone agrees on that. The disagreement comes from what to call it. In New Mexico and the Southwest, it’s red chile sauce, except in Colorado, where it’s chile Colorado. In Texas, it’s red chile gravy. Of course, all of those have tiny variations by region. We call it red chile sauce, because that’s what we saw most often in our travels. But, to quote a cheesy old joke, we don’t care what you call it, as long as you don’t call us late for dinner.
Hydrate the chiles. Pour 4 cups of boiling water over the chiles in a large bowl. Let them sit for 30 minutes. Take them out of the water, and remove the stems and as many seeds as you want. (The more seeds left in, the more heat will be in the final sauce.) Chop the chiles.
Make the red chile sauce. Set a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the lard. When the lard is melted, add the flour. Cook, stirring frequently, until the flour releases a warm scent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic’s scent is released, about 2 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, and chipotle chile powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and stir until everything is evenly coated. Pour in the stock and whisk everything together well until every ingredient is incorporated. Add the chopped chiles and bring the liquid to a boil, stir, then turn down the heat to low. Let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes. Pour half the sauce into a blender and puree it. Pour that into a large bowl and puree the rest of the sauce. Return the sauce to the pot and turn the heat to medium. Bring the sauce to a low boil, then turn down the heat to low. Season with salt and pepper and add the honey. Set aside.
Prepare to bake. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make the chicken filling. Clean the Dutch oven and set it over medium-high heat. Pour the olive oil into the Dutch oven. When the oil is hot, add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, cumin, and red pepper flakes and stir until the scent is released, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and chipotle pepper and cook, stirring, until they are heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the roasted chicken and stir to coat, then pour in the stock. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes.
Make the enchiladas. Set a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Put a tortilla onto the skillet. Cook until the tortilla is softened and a bit charred, about 1 minute. Flip the tortilla and cook for 1 minute more. Remove the tortilla and fill it with enough chicken filling that you can still roll it up (about 3 tablespoons, depending on the size of your tortillas). Put the filled tortilla into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
Bake the enchiladas. Pour the red chile sauce over the filled enchiladas, and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and starting to brown, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.