1. Cold sauce is easier to work with.
2. It thickens a bit.
3. The flavors have been given a chance to meld.
Now that I have ranted on and on about expecting traditional New Mexican food, I'm going a bit nontraditional here with my use of a stew as an enchilada sauce. Sorry, but I promise it's good. The stew itself is quite healthy, although that is somewhat negated in the enchilada assembly portion. At any rate, enjoy!
Green Chile Stew/Sauce:
2 lbs chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (I use kitchen scissors for this)
3 tbls all purpose flour
2 tbls butter
1 cup white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups tomato, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
water, as needed
4 4-oz cans of Hatch green chiles, chopped
- Toss chicken with flour to cat. In a Dutch oven, or similarly sized pot, heat butter and add chicken. Stir until slightly cooked through. Add onion and garlic, and cook until soft (stirring frequently).
- Add tomatoes, salt, oregano and cumin. Cover and simmer for ca. 1 hour. Add water as needed to achieve desired thickness (I add about one cup of water at the beginning).
- Add chiles and simmer for 30 more minutes.
Enchilada Assembly:
12+ corn tortillas
Canola oil
Lots of cheese (I use a "Mexican blend," but there are a lot of options . . . cheddar, colby-jack, etc.)
Green chile enchilada sauce
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Heat a thin layer of oil in a small skillet and gently fry tortillas for a couple of seconds on each side. Remember, you want them to remain pliable. Drain well.
- Add a spoonful or two of sauce and a sprinkling of cheese to each tortilla and roll it up. Transfer to a 9x13" pan as you go. Sorry about the lack of measurement specifics, but you want enough filling so that it is full without being impossible to roll-up. Don't worry about spillage.
- When the pan is full of tightly packed enchiladas, poor the remaining sauce on top and cover with as much cheese as you like.
- Bake until the cheese on top is melted and everything looks bubbly, about 20 minutes.
Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans. If you want to be truly authentic, follow the meal with warm sopapillas served with honey. Perhaps I will attempt those in the future. Please feel free to post comments and suggestions about this or any recipe posting.
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