Mexican Trifecta.

What happens when you can't decide if you want to make Burritos, Enchiladas or Fajitas?  You make all three in one main dish, three Mexican recipes in one, a Mexican Trifecta.  Ok, fajitas are technically classified as Tex-Mex, a recipe developed within the United States with Mexican influence, so it sort of counts as part of the trifecta.

I tried looking up the differences between burritos and enchiladas, but American influences (mainly California and Texas) have blurred the line between authentic and invented.   On one question/answer site, a man stated they were invented in California because, "he's eaten so many of them there for the past 6 years"...ummm, ok.  Authentic Mexican burritos are usually small and thin, with flour tortillas containing only one or two ingredients: some form of meat or fish, potatoes, rice, beans, asadero cheese, chile rajas, or chile relleno.  Authentic Mexican enchiladas are rolled maize (corn) tortillas stuffed with meat, covered with a tomato and chili sauce; this food practice can be dated back to the time of the Mayans.  Nowadays, burritos can be served up in a casserole dish, covered in cheese and sauce; or heated and browned on a grill as is to make it easier, and less messier, to walk around with.  The tortillas for burritos are closed ended, enchiladas are open ended; fillings are basically "anything goes".

Usually the tortillas are long length after rolling, even for the burrito; mine became square shaped packets, not intentionally, just ended up that way.  The taste, after complete cooking, was pretty awesome as is, but add a little sour cream and/or guacamole and they became exceptionally awesome!  There were so many textures and flavors, and they all worked so well to enhance each other.

Enchi-burr-jitas

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 and ½ lbs. lean meat (sirloin or London broil), cut into 1” strips

1 and ½ cups yellow bell pepper, cut into 1” strips

1 and ½ cups onion, cut into 1” strips

1 can (15 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. dried, crushed cilantro leaves

Pinch ground cayenne pepper

12 (10”) flour tortillas

1 (14 oz.) can green chili enchilada sauce (mild/medium)

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat, partially brown meat strips; add bell pepper and onion, continue to brown meat till no pink shows.  Add in corn, black beans, tomatoes and all seasonings; mix well and let cook 5 minutes before turning off heat.

Preheat oven to 350F; spray 2-4 quart baking dishes with nonstick cooking spray.

In center of each tortilla, place one cup of meat/vegetable mixture.  Fold up long sides of tortillas over each other, fold up short sides to create a square packet; place 6 packets inside each baking dish.  Top each packet with 2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce; bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

Mary Cokenour

An Awesome Mexican Adventure.

Recently I purchased two cookbooks from the Monticello Welcome Center; "Authentic Southwestern Cooking" by Lynn Nusom and "Southwest Slow Cooking" by Tammy Biber and Theresa Howell.  Going through both, I found several recipes I wanted to try out, and enjoyed reading some of the stories and informational tidbits in both books.  I was watching Travel Channel's "Mexican Food Paradise"; then Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" had an episode which featured New Mexico places; so you can see a pattern was starting to develop in what I was to cook next. 

Speaking with my hubby, he suggested I make a Mexican style casserole, but put rotini pasta in it.  I thought about it, but didn't like the pasta idea; pasta is Italian, I already made two Italian pasta dishes last week.  So, do I use one of the recipes out of the cookbooks, or look up recipes from the shows I had watched?  I did better than either choice, I combined both ideas plus my recipes for Chicken Enchiladas and Fiesta Salsa. To say that I came up with something absolutely amazing is to say too little. The taste and texture blew my mind; I wanted to just lay down on the floor and experience what I had just eaten with orgasmic pleasure. It is not often that I feel this way about a particular meal; but this was certainly a most excellent adventure!

Once again I'll be posting a load of photos, so I hope you'll enjoy the visual show as well as trying out this recipe.

 

 

Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

8 chicken tenderloins
¼ cup lime juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp New Mexico chile powder (medium)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained (medium)
8 (10 inch) flour tortillas
2 cups green chile sauce (medium)
8 Tbsp salted butter
8 Tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 (8 oz) package shredded Mexican cheese mix

Preparation:





Trim the chicken tenderloins of any fat or excess ligament; place in a sealable plastic bag with the lime juice, cilantro, cumin and chile powder. Move chicken around in bag to make sure all is coated with the marinade; place in refrigerator for one hour. In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat; sear chicken two minutes on each side and drain on paper towels. Chicken will still be raw inside, but will finish cooking during the baking process.

To Make the Enchiladas

In a large bowl, mix together the black beans, corn and tomatoes with green chiles.

 Place 4 tablespoons in the center of a tortilla; spread out far enough to be a half inch around the chicken.

Place a chicken tenderloin in the center of the “salsa”; fold the tortilla over both ends of the chicken, but leave 3 inches apart.

Take one side of the tortilla and fold over to make an “envelope”; slowly roll towards the open side, tucking in sides if necessary, to seal the “packet”.

Don't worry if each "packet" is not perfectly symmetrical or look exactly like each other.  Once the layers of sauce are on, no one will see the imperfections. If someone does, then feel proud that these are homemade; not bought at the supermarket's frozen food section and machine made.

 

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 4 quart baking dish with nonstick spray. Place each packet, seam side down, inside the dish. Spread the green chile sauce over the packets and bake for 20 minutes.

To Make the Cheese Sauce

Melt the butter, medium-high heat, in a medium sauce pan; whisk in the flour as soon as tiny bubbles begin to form in the melted butter. Continue to whisk as the mixture begins to turn a pale brownish color; add the heavy cream, milk and black pepper and let mixture come to a low boil. Whisk in half the shredded cheese until melted; do same for second half of cheese and continue to whisk until smooth.




After 20 minutes, take enchiladas out of oven and spread cheese sauce completely over all. Return dish to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.
 

Remove from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes to allow cheese sauce to firm up around the enchiladas.  Let me tell you that the cheese poofs up into this wonderful fluffy layer of cheesy cloud.  The texture is so soft and smooth, not the typical chewy layer when cheese is just dumped on an enchilada and allowed to melt.

Cutting open the enchilada, you see the vibrant colors of the beans, corn and tomatoes; the chicken is tender and juicy; the flavors of the lime and cilantro pop; and the cheese sauce layer...a celestial cloud.  Enjoy!

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Chile or Chili, it's Still Green.

Is it Chile or Chili? If it's the country in South America, it's Chile. If it's the singer from the group "TLC", it's Chilli; and when it's very cold outside, well that's Chilly. However, when it's the vegetable, it's the Green Chile Pepper, but when exactly does it become Chili? Then there's the plural, is it Chiles or Chilies? Confusing isn't it; and so many sources have so many definitions; so many recipes use the spellings so interchangeably.    Lets just get to the story of the Chile Pepper itself and the most popular one in the Southwest is the New Mexico Green Chile Pepper, primarily grown in Hatch, New Mexico.  Oh yes, there are numerous types of chile peppers within the United States, and worldwide, but I'm just going to focus on this one type for today's blog post.

Hatch chiles (ies) are available in a canned version, all roasted, seeded and peeled for you which is advantageous if you cannot find fresh chiles in your area.  This is what I had to do when I lived in Lancaster, PA, and while convenient, there was still that metallic taste from the aluminum cans to contend with.  Nope, there is no better alternative to fresh chiles than fresh chiles.
 

Roasting vegetables such as the chile pepper is actually not that difficult. No, you don't need that large barrel type roaster you may have seen on a cooking show; your own barbeque grill, stove top burner (gas only), or oven will do.  Do make sure to grease up the rack on your grill or in your oven; otherwise the chiles will stick and tear apart when being removed.

Remember, you can do the roasting techinque, not just for chile peppers, but those large bell peppers too. When jalapenos are roasted, they become known as chipotle, so be careful if you're one of those people who says, "I hate jalapenos, but love chipotles"; they're the same. Anyway, once the peppers are blackened, place them in a brown paper bag, seal it and let the steam from the peppers make your work easier. Once the peppers are warm to the touch, the skins will easily peel off; give the stems a twist and pull the seed pods right out. Give them a rinse, let them dry and they can be frozen for up to six months, or used immediately.

Two items you can make with your roasted peppers are Green Chile (or Chili) Sauce and Salsa Verde.  With Salsa Verde, it is made using tomatillo instead of actual green tomatoes.  The tomatillo, also known as tomato verde (green tomato) or Mexican husk cherry is related to the gooseberry, and in the nightshade family.

 

 

Basic Green Chile Sauce

 

Ingredients:

 

1 small onion, diced

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp canola oil

6 large green chile peppers; roasted, seeded, peeled and chopped

1 tsp cumin

2 cups water

salt

 

Preparation:

 

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil on medium-high heat; saute' onion until softened; the garlic should be added when you see the onion just beginning to soften.  Reduce heat to low, add the peppers, cumin and water; simmer for 30 minutes; stirring occasionally.  Puree to desired consistency using a blender or immersion blender; add salt to taste.

 

Makes 1 and 1/2 cups.

 

Basic Salsa Verde

 

Ingredients:

 

6 tomatillos, removed from husks and washed

water

1/4 chopped onion

1 clove garlic

3 large large green chile peppers; roasted, seeded, peeled and chopped

salt 

 

Preparation:

 

Place tomatillos and water into a large saucepan; on medium-high heat, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. 

 

Quarter the tomatillos; add tomatillos, onion, garlic and peppers to a blender.   Set on puree and slowly add 1/4 cup water until ingredients achieve a smooth texture.

 

Makes 1 and 1/2 cups.

 

Ok, so what do you do with the sauces now?  While you can use them as dips for a party, they can be used in such Mexican recipes as enchiladas or burritos; used as toppings for a breakfast skillet or even in a main dish.  Here's a simple recipe you can make quickly at home; rice, grilled vegetables or a salad can serve as the side dish.

 



 

Green Chile Chicken

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 Tbsp olive oil

8 skinless chicken tenderloins

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

2 Tbsp white wine

1 cup green chile sauce, warmed

8 tsp diced red tomatoes

 

Preparation:

 

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, heat the oil; place the chicken "skin side up" and evenly sprinkle with the oregano, black pepper and salt. Brown chicken for 3 minutes.

Turn the tenderloins over, remove the skillet from the heat and add the white wine; this will keep the wine from accidentally catching on fire. Remember, you're not making a flambe', you're just searing the chicken. Set back on heat and cook 3 minutes before removing from skillet.




Two tenderloins per serving, a tablespoon of sauce over each plus a teaspoon of diced red tomatoes.  So you'll get the heat temperature from the seared chicken and warmed sauce; the spicy heat of the green chiles grabs you; but now the cool, sweetness of the tomatoes gives you a full flavor taste explosion in your mouth.  Mexican style rice, grilled vegetables or even a simple salad as a side makes this a complete meal; and there's the key word: simple.

Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour

The Best little Diner in Moab.

Moab Diner and Ice Cream Shoppe

189 S. Main
Moab, UT, 84532

(435)259-4006
Fax: (435) 259-0198

Website: http://www.moabdiner.com/

The Moab Diner is just that, a diner, nothing overly fancy or pretentious; just a nice, little place where locals and tourists can enjoy a good meal. The wait staff is friendly, always making sure your coffee cup is full; prices are reasonable, and the menu has something for everyone,

We enjoy the breakfasts, and the Sweetwater Skillet smothered in their own green chile sauce is out of this world; the omelets are packed and the pancakes are fluffy.

Kokopelli Chicken is a specialty - Spanish seasonings on grilled chicken breast, smothered in cheese and the green chile sauce. Have I mentioned how good their green chile sauce is; I'm not kidding about that. This dish is available for lunch and dinner.

There is a small ice cream shoppe at the front counter; and if you're going picnicking, hiking or just sight seeing, a boxed lunch can be packed up for you.

If you're looking for simple and delicious, try out the Moab Diner.

Mary Cokenour