Rosie Attempts Enchiladas. A "Just Ask Rosie" Request..

Back in December, December 19 to be exact, my friend, Ange, from Wisconsin, emailed me. She "Just Asked Rosie" a question. Hi Rosie Dear! I've been very absent corresponding-wise lately. And for that I apologize. However, I check in on you every day & you are still my favorite food blogger. Also, I'm so sorry to hear about Mama Hawthorne's passing. Sad shit for real. But, it reminded me that I still...at 36 years old have 3 living grandparents & I need to spend time with them while they are still here. 2 challenges for you. Not very "christmas-y" so, after the new year perhaps. Enchiladas (filling of your choice) and lasagna. Good luck. Merry merry to you & your family. Weezie sends puppy kisses to Dixie, Beau, Giada & Joon-bug. Best from Wisconsin where it is cold as shit, xo Ange Thanks so much, Ange. You always keep me on my toes. Ange wanted a recipe for enchiladas. (And one for lasagna. In the near to late future, thank you very much. OK, later.) Ange, this is going to be a work in progress. Let's start with Enchilada #1. My first attempt. I made this January 8, 2010. And I've been working on this post, off and on since then. The first in a series. See? I said series. I just decided to make a series of enchiladas. I am on a mission to find the ultimate enchilada. For you, Ange. This requires research. I might need to go to actual Mexican Mexican Restaurants. (Not Taco Hell.) There is a Mexican Restaurant here on the beach. La Fogata. The Campfire. They are in two locations - one in Kitty Hawk and one in South Nags Head. I've been to both several times. And I have never liked them. Daughter Hawthorne tells me I don't know what to order. Let me tell you what I don't want to order. Refried beans. Refried beans disgust me. The last time I went (And I mean last time.), I ordered the Nacho Platter. I was expecting a pile of toasted tortilla chips adorned with olives and onions and tomatoes and jalapenos and cheeses and shredded lettuce and laced with black beans and seasoned beef and accented with a lovely cheese sauce or just melted cheese with salsa on the side, perhaps some guacamole, and some sour cream. Better yet, with my creme fraiche: 1 cup heavy cream 1 TB buttermilk 1 TB lime juice Combine. Leave at room temp, covered, overnight. Refrigerate. Perhaps microplane some lime zest o'er top. A sprinkling of cilantro. But, NAY!!!! I got a plate of limp tortilla wedges with a pile of refried beans SLopped in the middle. No jalapenos. No onions. No peppers. No cheese. No lettuce. No tomatoes. No nothing. It was a study in tans and blah. It was the most horrifyingly GawdAwful platter I'd ever seen. I could feel Mr. Hawthorne's eyes on me as I just stared at my platter. He was waiting. Just waiting for my response. Knowing. I believe I said, "This looks like a dog just puked on my plate." Mr. Hawthorne just smiled and dug into his entree. But please don't let my meager ramblings deter you from going to La Fogata. It's very popular here on the beach. Do check it out. Like Daughter said, I don't know what to order. What's that they say? Bad publicity is good publicity? Any publicity is good publicity? OK. Enchilada #1. My first attempt, Ange. Please bear with me. Hang on. I will deliver the consummate enchilada. This may take time. The first thing I did was go to my cookbook collection and pull out Diana Kennedy's The Art Of Mexican Cooking and Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican. I decided on Rick Bayless' Enchiladas de Coloradito. He made his with pork and I'm going with chicken. See? I just can't follow directions. I usually have all manner of tortillas in my fridge, both corn and flour, but the Hawthorne Boys have wiped out most everything, what with their fetish for burritos, so I set about to make my own corn tortillas. The instructions on the bag of masa flour said 2 cups flour to 1 1/4 cups water.

That's what I started with and this is what I ended up with. So I consulted Mr. Bayless' book and his proportions were 1 3/4 cups masa mixed with 1 cup + 2 TB hot water.

I just added more hot water and ended up with this nice, soft, but not sticky, ball of dough. I covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes.

I divided the dough into 16 pieces ...

... and rolled them into balls.

Using a piece of plastic wrap on both the bottom and top of the dough ball, I pressed the dough down in my tortilla press, then flipped it 180 degrees and pressed again, to about 1/16 inch thickness.

OK, so tortillas are not Rosie's forte. But I got better with practice. Now, Mr. Bayless directs me to have two skillets - a not-so-hot skillet (left) and a hot skillet (right). "Lay the tortilla onto the cooler skillet. In about 20 seconds, when the tortilla loosens itself from the griddle, flip it over onto the hotter skillet. When lightly browned in spots underneath, 20 to 30 seconds more, flip a second time, back onto the side that was originally down. If the fire is properly hot, the tortilla will balloon up like pita bread. When lightly browned, another 20 or 30 seconds, remove from the griddle (it will completely deflate) and wrap in a towel." This all sounds really good in print, but it didn't work out that way for me. None of that happened at all. Apparently my second fire wasn't properly hot enough. Or my first fire wasn't properly low enough. I don't know. There was absolutely no ballooning. About the 14th tortilla, I got this little poof. Look hard at the top. It's there. No great ballooning like pita bread, which I have made and which did poof. Here's my sad little stack of homemade tortillas. I finally found 3 or 4 store-bought corn tortillas in a fridge drawer and taste-wise they were pretty much the same. Actually mine rolled up better than the store-bought, which cracked. Could have been because the store-bought were a bit dried out.

With the tortillas done and out of the way, I started on my chicken. Two split chicken breasts on sale for $2.14.

I covered the bosoms with water and added some peppercorns bay leaves, parsley, and thyme. Brought to a simmer, covered, and cooked for about 30 minutes. I left the chicken in the water and let it cool.

Then I shredded my chicken giving lots of chicken parts to the puppies.

Now, on to Mr. Bayless' Enchiladas with Orange-Red Mole, or Coloradito Sauce.

Bayless' recipe called for 7 medium dried chiles anchos. I have no idea what type of dried chiles I had on hand, but the two smaller ones at the bottom are very smoky.

I heated my skillet and added the chiles, pressing them against the hot surface, then I flipped them over, letting them crackle and blister. And yes, I was sposed to seed and devein and de-stem. And I din't.

I removed them to a bowl, poured boiling water over top ...

... and weighted them down with a plate, letting them soak, submerged, for at least one hour.

Mr. Bayless said to put the garlic in the skillet and cook for about 15 minutes, until blackened a little. Then cool, peel, and put in the blender. This did not work at all. There was nothing to peel. No garlic inside. No flesh. No squeeze. Maybe my garlic was old?

So I took a bunch of garlic, put it in my toaster oven and cooked for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees.

And I have squeezable garlic.

I love squeezable garlic.

For the Coloradito Sauce: the dried chilies, toasted and soaked (not shown) the squeezable garlic cloves (not shown) 1 slice firm white bread, toasted (not shown) (I used Arnold's whole wheat thin sandwich bread.) 1 can diced tomatoes, drained 1 onion, roughly chopped 1 generous teaspoon oregano 1/2 inch cinnamon stick 3 cloves 3 peppercorns 1/2 tsp salt 1 TB sugar chicken stock

My mise en places are starting to suck. Half the ingredients aren't there. I really suck.

I processed the cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon stick and added in the oregano.

Added the onion.

Toasted whole wheat Arnold sandwich thins.

Garlic in.

I drained the chiles on paper towels and added them.

Then I poured in the can of diced tomatoes.

And then, why not some diced tomatoes with green chiles?

Sugar went in.

And about 1 cup of the chicken stock.

I heated a little oil in my skillet and poured the Coloradito Sauce in.

Added in another cup of chicken stock and simmered for about 45 minutes.

Ready for assembly: corn tortillas Coloradito Sauce shredded chicken Queso Fresco

I poured a bottom layer of the sauce in my baking dish, then dipped the tortilla in the sauce, turned it over, added the chicken, and rolled the tortilla up.

I finally found a few white corn tortillas in the fridge, so I thought, "Why not add them in too?" to see if I could taste a difference. I couldn't.

The store-bought ones cracked.

Four homemade tortillas on the left. Two store-bought on the right.

Top with cheese. Queso Fresco.

Bake at 350 until cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

All right ... I'll be the one who says it. I'll do it for you, so you don't have to. This dish is NOT appetizing. There. The elephant has left the room. Elvis has left the building.

Can you tell the Hawthorne Boys like sour cream?

They seemed to like the enchiladas too.

As in they ate all of them.

The sauce was interesting. It was more than just a tomato sauce. The dried chiles were working in it. The smokiness of those two smoky chiles was there. The warmth of the cloves and cinnamon was a definite presence. Not overly powerful as spices, but as a fleeting undercurrent. You would catch a spice flavor but I don't think you'd be able to tell what it was. It was background. And I've determined that I prefer flour tortillas to corn tortillas. I didn't think the flavor of the corn tortilla helped this dish. You'd think it would be a complimentary flavor. The corn seemed to weigh it down for me. But hey. The boys loved it.

This is my first stab at an enchilada, Ange.

I want something simpler. Simpler to make. And simpler flavor-wise. Too much was going on in my mouth. I'll do some research. Maybe go to some restaurants down here. There's actually a new (relatively) Mexican Grill I've been meaning to try. And thank you, Russ, for that post. I think I'd actually prefer something meatless. Maybe beans and rice and corn and tomatoes. And lots of cheese. Cilantro. Which I have now growing year round, just like my parsley. A light sauce or salsa. I have some things in mind. Like I said, Ange, this is Enchilada Attempt #1. More will be forthcoming. And thank you, again, Ange, for Just Asking Rosie. Remember everyone to Just Ask Rosie at RosieHawthorne@aim.com. And if anybody can tell me how to link Just Ask Rosie to my email address, please feel free to do so. I thank you in advance.