Enchiladas Placeras

For a while I’ll be blogging from recipes cooked since my last entry, but, never posted.

So from the outset these Enchiladas seemed strange. But who am I to know. Like every good Chicana from L.A., I made enchiladas in the Northeast by lugging cans of Las Palmas enchilada sauce in my suitcases after summer and winter break. It’s how my grandma made them, so it must be the right way. Since no one I know makes them from scratch, there was no one to impress. But then I got the “how do you do this the right way” bug and here I am.

Enchiladas are amazing (Fried tortilla, good, spicy sauce, good, cheese, good), everybody loves them and they are relatively simple and inexpensive to make. So far I have not met an enchilada that I didn’t like. From the red, but mild chile sauce of California, to the extra spicy red sauce with a fried egg on top in New Mexico, to the multitude of varieties that I sampled in one sitting in Austin, Texas because someone knew the owner and she kept bringing everything out from the menu. Then of course there are the green chile varieties, but that’s for another blog entry. I chose the enchilada recipe in Kennedy’s book from Michoacan since it’s the most northern and I assumed similar to what I had grown up with. I was a little confused at first because the recipe calls for Guajillo chile and I thought for a second that Diana Kennedy got it wrong. But with the enchilada you can discover the transformation of Mexicans after annexation. What chiles where abundant in the region shaped the type of enchilada that was created. In California, we of course use the California pod among others, stepping away from the more traditional guajillo chile.

But the really strange thing is when I saw cubed carrots and potatoes on the list. Basically they end up being a side dish. Now this I had never seen until…..last summer, when, my then new Fiancé Peter and I took a trip to central Mexico to interview wedding coordinators and scout locations for our wedding (that is now three weeks away!!!) We were deciding between San Miguel De Allende and the city of Guanajuato. On our last night in San Miguel we were walking around and the church down the street was getting ready for a fiesta. We crashed the party, listened to live Banda music, danced a little, watched the kids run around with sweets in their hands and ate from all the vendors as we waited for the fireworks extravaganza called “Castillos”. And there they were, red enchiladas made with the now distinctive taste of Guajillo chiles, Queso Fresco and spooned on top and on the side, CUBED CARROTS AND POTOATOES. I will never doubt you again Diana Kennedy…

I find myself a little obsessed with the enchilada now. I liked these enchiladas, but I’m a California girl and want them to taste like California Enchiladas (which means monterey jack cheese too). So I started scouring around for cookbooks that had distinctive California Mexican cooking. I found two, “El Cholo cookbook” (which I paid a small mint for because it’s out of print) and “Baja: Cooking on the edge”. I can’t wait to dive in.

Enchiladas Placeras O Pollo de Plaza (Michoacan): Serves 6 (Diana Kennedy, The Essentials Cuisines of Mexico)

The topping
8 ounces red bliss or waxy new potatoes (3 small ones), unpeeled
8 ounces carrots (3 medium)
1 tsp of salt
1/3 cup mild vinegar

The sauce:
3 Guajillo Chiles, seeds and veins removed
3 Ancho Chiles, seeds and veins removed
About 1 ½ cups of water
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 slice white onion
¼ tsp dried Mexican Oregano
Salt to taste

The Enchiladas:
Lard or Vegetable oil for frying
12 freshly made tortillas (yeah, right!)
8 ounces queso fresco, crumbled and lightly salted (about 1 1/3 cups)
½ cup finely chopped onions
A 3-pound chicken, poached and cut into serving pieces

To serve:
Strips of canned Jalapenos chiles en escabeche
2/3 cup prepared sour cream (she really means Mexican crema)
1 cup finely shredded lettuce or raw cabbage

Rinse the potatoes and cut them into small cubes; scrape the carrots and cut them into smaller cubes. Cover the carrots with boiling water, add the salt, and cook them for about 5 minutes over high heat. Add the potatoes and cook them for about 8 minutes – they should be al dente – then drain.

Cover the vegetables with cold water and add the vinegar. Stir and set aside. Heat a griddle and toast the chiles lightly, turning constantly so they don’t burn. Cover the chiles with hot water and leave them to soak for 10 minutes. Put ½ cup of water into a blender jar, add the guajillos, and blend until smooth. Add the remaing 1 cup water, the anchos, garlic, and onion and blend until smooth. Add the guajillo puree, the oregano, and salt to taste.

Melt a little of the lard, and when it is sizzling, dip each tortilla into the raw sauce – it should jut lightly cover it (if the sauce is too thick dilute it with a little more water_ and fry it quickly on both sides.

Remove from the frying pan and put about 1 scant tablespoon of the cheese and ½ tablespoon of the onion across each tortilla. Roll them up loosely and set them side by side on the serving dish. Keep warm.

In the same fat, fry the pieces of chicken until they are golden brown. Drain and arrange them around the enchiladas.

In the same fat, fry the vegetables until just beginning to brown, and drain well. In the same fat, cook the remaining sauce for a few moments and pour it over the enchiladas. Cover with the fried vegetables.

Top with the chile strips and on each serving add a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of cheese, with lettuce on the side.
Note: to reduce the amount of oil, drain the fried vegetables in a strainer and shake gently. Coat the chicken pieces with the chile sauce and place under a hot broiler, turning them from time to time so that they are evenly cooked.