The Whole Enchilada

These enchiladas are rolled, not stacked.  Do NOT nibble that little red chile.

       My friend, Norman Hanks, and I spent months pounding the pavement in Houston in search of the perfect Chile Relleno.  We established criteria for judgment, chose a frame of reference, grid coordinated the city, and set out to find the perfect Chile Relleno.   It took eight months for us to reach a split decision.  We still sample rellenos at various places, twenty years later.  The journey turned out to be the destination.

      Regardless of what other opinion you may hold, Norm and I are smart.  We picked Chile Rellenos.  We knew better than go stomping around looking for the perfect enchilada.   Enchiladas are Mexican Soul Food, and as such are as varied and unusual as the terrain of Mexico and the several lands she has subdued by occupation, such as Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio.  Every enchilada is different and all of them are good.  Some are infinitely complex and others are disarmingly simple.  I never met an enchilada I didn’t like.

      My “Macco-Encho-Lados” are not the perfect enchilada.  They are good enchiladas and deserve respect for that, but the very best enchilada is ever-changing.  The most nearly perfect enchilada on a Thursday night may be chicken with tomatillo sauce and queso fresco, served with martinis at Harry’s Bar in San Miguel de Allente; on Friday night, Enchiladas del Norte with margaritas at Forti’s in El Paso; Saturday night, Lone Star beer and a Tex-Mex Special with picadillo, fried eggs and cheddar cheese at the Last Concert in Houston; then Sunday morning, the breakfast enchilada with poached eggs, chipotle hollandaise, lacey tortilla crepes and Champagne at the Pink Adobe in Santa Fe.

     The Nite Owl Café in Lubbock buried spicy hamburger meat and melted cheddar cheese enchiladas under a layer of steaming Wolf Brand Chili, covered the whole thing with cold, crisp tossed green salad and two little round sweet Italian peppers.  Years later I discovered they were casabel chiles.  In the fifties, at three am, those were the best enchiladas in the world.

      Enough—here’s what you need:

                                    Macco-Encho-Lados

One icy cold margarita on the rocks as you cook—recipe below.

6 fresh corn tortillas                 2 cups of cubed skinless, boneless chicken breasts

¼ cup raisins                             1 cup chopped sweet onions

¼ cup pecan pieces                  1 can mild, green enchilada sauce

1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese---or more

    This recipe will make a generous serving for two, but it will easily feed three, or even four with side dishes.

         Preheat oven to 350.

Method:

1.      Put about ½ inch of cooking oil in an 8 or10 inch black iron skillet over medium high heat. Drop in a tortilla, allow it to fry for about 15 seconds, and, using tongs, turn it over for about 15 more seconds, remove it before it becomes crisp and place it on a paper towel.  Cover it with a second paper towel.  Repeat the process with all the tortillas.  Properly done, this makes the tortillas soft and pliable.  Leave them stacked on a plate sandwiched between paper towels and set aside.  Keep warm. (Do not be tempted to use flour tortillas.)

2.      The chicken breasts should be cooked and diced into ½ inch cubes, or shredded.   It makes no difference how you cook them.  Sometimes, I boil them with onions, celery, carrots, garlic, a bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper, then strain and freeze the broth for future use. You may fry the breasts with Cajun seasonings, use left-over rotisserie chicken, or grille it on the barbeque pit.  Each of these methods makes a subtle difference in the final product, but all are good.  Choose your favorite.  There is no necessity that it be all white meat, only that it be fresh, cooked, and diced or shredded.  I usually do these enchiladas when I discover left-over chicken in the fridge and wonder what to do with it.

3.      Empty the oil from of the iron skillet, wipe it out with a paper towel, and pour in the can of enchilada sauce.  I use HEB mild green canned enchilada sauce.  Old El Paso makes a good one also.  A red sauce works very well with these enchiladas, if you prefer.  Keep in mind that much flavor is lost with canned sauces. No store-bought sauce is as good as a homemade enchilada sauce, but the canned ones are undeniably convenient.  We are not trying to be Diana Kennedy here, we're just fixing supper.   Heat the sauce to boiling, and reduce to a low simmer.

4.      Arrange the ingredients in separate bowls on a work space adjacent to the cooktop.

5.      For stacked enchiladas:  Place a 13” x 9” Pyrex cooking dish adjacent to the heated sauce.  Put  1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of the dish and spread it around to make a spot for the first two tortillas.  Using tongs, dip a tortilla into the sauce, flip it to cover both sides and put it into the Pyrex dish.  Do this quickly, lest the tortillas become too soft and tear.  Do the same with the next tortilla. (If you’d rather, simply place the tortilla in the dish and spread a large spoonful of sauce over it.)  Stop here and look, so we know we are on the same page.  There should be a 13” x 9”  Pyrex dish on the counter with two tortillas smothered in sauce equally spaced on the bottom.  The oven is preheated and other ingredients are waiting nearby.

6.      Cover each tortilla with a few onions, some chicken, a few raisins, some of the pecans, and top with a generous amount of shredded cheese.  Vary the amounts of each ingredient according to your taste.  Dip two more tortillas in sauce, place them on top of the original two and repeat the process.  Add the third tortilla, dipped in sauce, to the top of each stack, and pour the remaining sauce over all. Scatter the remaining chicken, onions, raisins, etc., over the top.  Finish with , again, a generous amount of cheese.

7.      Place the Pyrex dish in the oven and cook for twenty minutes or so, until everything is heated through and bubbling,  and the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

8.      While the enchiladas cook, peel and seed two ripe Hass Avocados and put them in a bowl.  Add a bit of garlic salt and pepper and mash them with a potato masher.  Place a mound of shredded iceberg lettuce on a plate, leaving room for a stack of enchiladas, and top with ½ of the avocado mixture.  Repeat with a second plate.

9.      Remove the enchiladas from the oven when they’re ready and use a spatula to put them on the prepared plate, next to the avocado/lettuce.  Add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle some chopped cilantro over, if you like. Serve immediately with iced tea, margaritas, cold beer, red or white wine, or even a cold glass of milk.

     If you prefer rolled enchiladas, use a smaller Pyrex dish.  Put a sauced tortilla in the dish, add the fillings, and roll the first enchilada.  Push it, seam side down, to one end of the dish.  Repeat the process with the others, fitting them tightly into the dish.  Scatter the remaining ingredients on top and bake as above.  This recipe will easily make eight rolled enchiladas.  Simply prepare a few extra tortillas.

     Refried beans, Spanish rice, or other sides work well with these enchiladas, but we usually eat them as I described, sometimes with a fresh jalapeno and/or sliced onion on the side.  The guacamole is an art form of its own.  Use the basic recipe, or add chopped onions, lemon or lime juice or zest, Serrano or jalapeño peppers, chopped tomatoes, Tabasco sauce, or anything else you like.  Do not be afraid to experiment.

     I also make these with a red chile sauce.  You can buy it in a can, as with the green sauce, but I much prefer my own which is complicated, but absolutely worth it.  Basically, I buy assorted dried chiles, seed them, reconstitute them, pulverize them, and simmer with spices over a low heat.  The resulting sauce is wonderfully complex and makes great Enchiladas del Norte, a simple and delicious dish with three ingredients---tortillas, sauce, and queso fresco.  

     I picked Monterrey Jack cheese for this dish, but any cheese you like may be substituted.  All of them are good.   If you want, add corn or other veggies to the filling.  Chopped hard-boiled eggs add a nice twist.  Kick up the heat by adding chopped jalapenas, either fresh or pickled.  Imagination is very helpful when making enchiladas.

     Oops!  Almost forgot the Margarita recipe:  In a cocktail shaker, shake 3 oz. Patron Silver Tequila, 2 oz. Cointreau, the juice of one lime and the juice of one lemon with ice.  Split between two ice-filled, salt-rimmed Margarita glasses and enjoy.  I find that 4 oz. of tequila seems to be required for the second batch.  Strange….

A proper Margarita on the rocks, this one made with gold tequila  instead of the silver, which I prefer.