Back in early-mid December,
my friend,
Ange from Wisconsin,
Just-Asked-Rosie
a question.
She wanted Rosie to come up
with a good enchilada recipe
Ange,
I'm still working on it.
Rosie is making what she calls a "shrimp enchilada."
But then I Googled "enchilada"
and found out tomato sauce
and corn tortillas kinda define enchilada:
An enchilada (pronounced /ˌɛntʃɨˈlɑːdə/) is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations.
So now, I'm calling it a shrimp wrap.
And by golly, I'm going pan-ethnic.
I have Greek Feta cheese.
I have Italian Ricotta and Parmesan and Mozzarella.
I have Mexican tortillas.
I can offend three cultures at one fell swoop.
Speaking of "at one fell swoop,"
do you know where that phrase comes from?
If you guessed Shakespeare,
you would be correct.
In Macbeth,
Macduff, upon hearing his family
and servants had all been killed,
uttered this line:
All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What? All my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
The word "fell"
is an old word,
in use by the 13th century,
that's fallen into disuse
from its original meaning.
Now, you pretty much just "fell" a tree.
The Oxford English Dictionary
defines fell as
"fierce, savage, cruel, ruthless."
"Fell" is actually from the Old French "fel,"
meaning evil,
and is a variant of "felon."
The kite is a predatory bird
common in England during Tudor times
and known for its rapid and savage attacks.
After nearing extinction in the 20th century,
the kite is now making a welcome return.
Shakespeare used the imagery
of the kite's "fell swoop"
to indicate the deadly, ruthless, and savage
attack by Macbeth's minions.
Over the years, we have lost the original meaning
and use it now to convey suddenness
rather than savagery and also
to describe the accomplishment of several tasks
with a single action.
Enough of this fascinating trivia.
What was I making?
Oh yes.
Not a shrimp enchilada.
Rosie's Ingredients:
Rosie's Southwestern Mixture (bottom right)
which I'd already used to make
Moreover Quesadillas
and
Southwestern Spring Rolls
onion
garlic
Mozzarella
Feta
Parmesan
tortillas
shrimp
ricotta
spinach
I minced the onion and garlic
and added them to a mixture
of hot olive oil and butter,
stirring for about a minute.
I stirred for about 30 seconds,
then added in some white wine.
You don't want to cook the shrimp
all the way through
since it's going under the broiler at the end.
Notice the shrimp is still a bit translucent.
After about 30 seconds,
I added in a glop of ricotta ...
What's not to love?
I should not read this at lunchtime, because now my "moreovers" have lost their appeal !!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the etymology info.
ReplyDeleteAnd the not shrimp enchiladas look pretty darn good.
Oh my Ms. Rosie, you've outdone your bad self! I'm a friend of Mr. Hawthorne's from Corolla and found out about your blog from his office mate. I think you're just brilliant! I'm gonna try your shrimp not enchiladas and was contemplating adding calamata olives instead of the grapes? Kinda works the Greek theme a bit... Whaddya think?
ReplyDeleteHi Phyllis.
ReplyDeleteThe olives sound excellent.
And going with the Greek thing,
artichoke bottoms sound really good, too.
Thanks for your kind words and thanks for reading!
I've started making a list of all the things you have to fix for me when I come down there. I'm already into the next decade, and that's accounting for a visit once a month ;-)
ReplyDeleteKathy, bring it on!
ReplyDelete