Enchiladas Verdes (de Gabriel)

the master at work

While I think I can whip up a pretty tasty guera-lada, we had an ACTUAL MEXICAN teach us the way yesterday.  One of the guys I met here has started up his own "I come to your house and teach you how to cook" type businesses - so if you're ever in SMA, give him a shout.  Also, if you're incredibly wealthy and would like to fly him to where you live, I bet he'd be game. 
This preparation of enchiladas is totally different than what I was used to; what with the frying of the tortillas.  Thanks Gabriel!!  Tus enchiladas son muy deliciosos.  That sounds dirty.

the masterpiece

Enchiladas de Gabrielserves 3 people - 4 enchiladas per person

20 tomatillos
3 chiles serranos (or to taste; be careful, some chiles are hotter than others - if you're a wimp, start with one or two and add more later)
1 handful of cilantro
1/2 white onion - thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic
12 or so corn tortillas
sour cream
queso fresco
salt & pepper
olive oil

Crumble or grate the cheese and thinly slice the onions - set both aside. 
Peel the skins off and wash the tomatillos to remove the sticky stuff (which can make your salsa bitter; you might even want to use a little soap to help, just be sure you rinse the tomatillos well).
Boil the clean tomatillos with the chiles and the garlic in enough water to cover them.
Once done (the tomatillos go from bright green to olive green; 15-20 minutes), remove the veggies using a slotted spoon and transfer to the blender or food processor.  Use a little bit of the cooking water (1/4 - 1/2 cup) to thin the salsa.  Add a generous pinch of salt and half of the cilantro (save some for garnish).  Puree until smooth.
Pour the salsa back into the pot you boiled the veggies in; add a little bit of chicken broth or stock to desired consistency, and let simmer.
In another pan, heat enough olive oil to submerge the tortillas.  Once ready, place a tortilla into the oil and flip - the idea is just to cook them a little bit, NOT to get them crispy.  Maybe 5 seconds per side is good.  When lifting out, allow the excess oil to drain back into the pan.  From the oil, place tortilla directly into the salsa verde and submerge.  Remove the tortilla to a plate; fill with some of the queso (maybe 4 tablespoons or so), and either roll or fold the tortilla closed.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Once you have finished making the enchiladas, plate them up separately.  Arrange four on each plate and cover generously with remaining salsa.  Dollop a bit of sour cream onto each, and sprinkle with cilantro and sliced onions.
Serve with rice and or beans if you like.

And for those of you that would prefer it in Gabriel's words, here is his receta.  (Gabe/Gab - si tengo algo mal, que me haga saber!  Gracias por compartir tu receta.)

Las Enchiladas Verdes 
(2 porciones)

Ingredientes:
20 tomatillos
3 chiles serranos
1 manojo cilantro
1/2 cebolla
2 dientes de ajo
Tortillas
Crema espesa
Queso fresco o panela
Pimienta y sal
Aceite de oliva

Preparación: 
Ralle el queso y corte rodajas de cebolla.

Limpie los tomatillos retirando el papel, y lavando con agua y jabón, enjuague.

Hierva los tomatillos junto con los chiles y los dientes de ajo.
Agregue en el vaso de la licuadora junto con unas ramitas de cilantro y un poco de sal.

En un sartén con aceite caliente agregue el puré y sazone. Agregue un poco del caldo de
pollo hasta lograr la consistencia deseada (ligeramente espesa)

En otro sartén caliente aceite suficiente para sumergir una tortilla.

Caliente la tortilla previamente, y rápidamente pásela por el aceite. Cuidando no tostarla.
Después de pasarla por el aceite sumerja cuidadosamente en la salsa verde y sáquela.
Coloque la tortilla abierta y enchilada en un plato chico, agregue queso rallado y cierre en
forma de quesadilla. Repita 4 veces.

Al tener las 4 enchiladas en el plato, tome más salsa verde y bañe las enchiladas.
Ponga un poco de crema y rodajas de cebolla encima. Adorne con hojas de cilantro.

Tamales and enchiladas and salsas, oh my!

Tamales are labor intensive guys.  That's why I usually just buy them.  In fact, most everyone just buys them.  Here in Mexico, there are a few women that make their business of selling them, because no one else wants to spent that dang much time.  However, to each their own, and if you're into it, I thought this recipe looked pretty good (though not lard free; I'm sure that's a change I'll make if ever I feel so inspired).  Plus, I love me some slow cooker recipes.  Extra bonus - now YOU don't have to stalk some poor woman through your local "international market."

Tamales
Filling:
1 1/4 pounds pork loin
1 large onion, halved
1 clove garlic
4 dried California chile pods
2 cups water
Dough:
2 cups masa harina
1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lard
1 (8 ounce) package dried corn husks
1 cup sour cream 

Place pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the meat is cooked through, about 2 hours.  OR - put this bad boy in your slow cooker on low for a full day (put it on before you go to bed and be ready for it the next evening).  You can add additional spices if you so choose - like cumin, coriander seed, seasoning salt - whatever you've got that you think might be good.

Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat to cool. Transfer the chiles and water to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture, stir in salt, and set aside. Shred the cooked meat and mix in one cup of the chile sauce.   If you've spent all that time slow cooking your meat in the crock pot - why not use some of that delicious broth instead of water in your salsa?  You can also make salsa verde for this if you'd like your tamales in green sauce instead of red.

Soak the corn husks in a bowl of warm water. In a large bowl, beat the lard (or whatever you're using that is NOT lard) with a tablespoon of the broth until fluffy. Combine the masa harina, baking powder and salt; stir into the lard mixture, adding more broth as necessary to form a spongy dough. 

Spread the dough out over the corn husks to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Place one tablespoon of the meat filling into the center (one tablespoon?!  psssshhh. . . ). Fold the sides of the husks in toward the center and place in a steamer. Steam for 1 hour. 

Remove tamales from husks and drizzle remaining chile sauce over. Top with sour cream. For a creamy sauce, mix sour cream into the chile sauce.

I really think it's a better idea to make the meat and salsa one day, then you can work on the masa and the steaming the next day so you're not ready to die of exhaustion by the time dinner is ready.

Atole

Atole.  It's all I've been hearing about lately.  I swear, my teacher gets an idea in her head, and we talk about it for days.  Luckily, her topics tend to be food based.  Also fun, but probably meaningless to you unless you're Andrea or Karen, neither of whom read this blog:

Salvadoran varieties include atol shuco ("dirty" atol, a reference to its darker color), particularly popular in the Cabañas region. The Nicaraguan homologue is pinolillo. In some parts of Honduras, fresh corn is ground and the expressed liquid is used as the base (instead of masa flour).

Figures that the Salvadorian one would be dirty. . .   man, it's less fun to tease when I know she won't see it.

In any case, Elvira is all about atole with aveno (oatmeal) - screw that masa noise.  And I must admit - the idea of drinking some sort of slurry just sounds more appealing when it's oatmeal, which is kind of slurry-y anyway, instead of flour slurry, which as far as I know is for thickening sauces.  The fun part is you can add all sorts of tasty flavors - chocolate, strawberry and pine nut are popular, and Elvira loves it with guyaba (guava) and her husband Francisco prefers manzana (apple).  Another tradition that I think will fit right in around Christmas.

I am definitely dragging my dad around in search of this while he's here - especially since it's typically served with tamales.  That's a lot of masa in one meal, but it's worth a shot!  


Atole de Elvira - enough for two people to have two cups
I wish there were some way to capture gestures here so I could show you how much she shows me to use - instead I'll use some of the many recipes floating around out there to help me along. 

* a handful of oatmeal - probably about half a cup
* water or milk (see now, not helpful - she says some in a pot and some in the licuadora with the oatmeal.  I say start with less, you can always add more if it's too thick) - let's say 4 cups in the blender
* brown sugar (or white sugar, whatever you have; the piloncillos if you can find them!) to taste - figure about 1 tbsp for each cup, so 4-5 tbsp total
* vanilla extract - 1 tsp

If you want to do fruit, just leave out the cinnamon and vanilla.  Although, I think the cinnamon would be great with apples.  If you're using apples, you'll need four, I know that much.  If you're using another fruit, start out with a small amount and add more if you think it needs it.  You quarter, decore, and parboil the apples to soften them a bit first; but I don't think that's necessary with softer fruit.  


Put the oatmeal, water or milk (and here Elvira doesn't recommend using milk as it makes it harder to strain, but doesn't milk just sound better?), cinnamon, sugar, and fruit/nuts/Mexican chocolate, whatever you might be using; into the blender.  Puree until super smooth.  Pour through a strainer (to remove any chunky bits of oatmeal, cinnamon or whatever else might be lurking in there) into a pot to heat.
You don't need to boil it, it doesn't need to be THAT hot (thinking of YOU McDonald's coffee in the lap lady)- which by the way, holy crap, I had no idea she got third degree burns, that IS some damn hot coffee. . . .), but if it starts to boil, no biggie, just turn off the flame.


Voila.  Atole.
Also, I totally want a molinillo for whisking my chocolate atole, or champurrado.  I totally think I'm Mexican now.
(for those that don't know me, I actually am a bit Mexican, fyi, but I'd classify myself as guera over latina . . .)