La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

I know - you all feel abandoned - but really, it is not my fault. The digital camera I've been using is not giving me my pictures - so many bids for forgiveness. I will try to catch up now that my roomate is back and can hopefully fix the camera bug.
Well, I love and miss enchiladas--especially my mom's. I promised her, however, that I would not divulge her green and red chile recipes on my blog because every Mexican knows better than to post their chile recipes for all to see: otherwise, you have some half-assed jerk publishing it in his food network cookbook and making money off such a simple thing as chile, onions, garlic and spices with water. Chile is not so much about measurements, rather it is about the cooking procedure and method--about roasting your chile right, not overcooking the onions and garlic, and reducing the caldo (broth) so it thickens without burning or overcooking the chile.
For you non-chile officianados, red chile is basically the ripened form of green chile. Red is often dried, hung to dry on a ristra or ground into a powder. Green is roasted and peeled. To eat it year-round, you have to buy it in August-September, roast it, freeze or can it, and then use it at the time of cooking. Chile is a labor of love and my favorite place to eat it is at El Patio restaurant in Albuquerque, NM (home of all chile, red or green, and if you order both, it's called Christmas). To my delight, El Patio started canning its chile and selling it at the restaurant. I purchased the red and green to make enchiladas al estilo Nuevo Mexico. Unlike traditional Mexican enchiladas, the NM kind are flat and not rolled. The layers usually consist of hamburger and potatoes, but for this recipe, I used chicken and beans. The vegetarian plate featured in the photo is of course spinach and beans.
You will need:
- one 12 pack of corn tortillas,
- 2 cans of El Patio red and green chile (you can always purchase 505 brand of canned green chile at Safeway or Smith's),
- a crock pot of fresh beans (frijole de bolita was used here), or 2 cans of pinto beans that are cooked with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pot over medium-high heat for 10 minutes
- diced onion,
- spinach (fresh baby spinach), lettuce, cheese (always use Monterey Jack),
- shredded chicken (2 chicken breasts whole with bones, boiled in a pot over high heat for 12-16 minutes, then shredded with a fork),
- 1/2 c of oil to fry tortillas (replenish as necessary).

Step One: in a small egg pan, heat up your oil over medium heat.

Step Two: on a plate, serve a scoop of beans, quickly fry the tort on each side for about 45 seconds, and place on top of beans. Add more beans or chicken, spinach, cheese, onions and scoop of chile.

Step Three: Repeat step two. Top off with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Serve with a side of beans.

It's like El Patio in my kitchen! For those of you in ABQ, break me off a little next time you are on Harvard drive and jonzen for chile.
For you "heartburn" types and people who ask "is the chile hot?" - don’t bother.

Labels: corn tortillas, New Mexico, pinto beans, red chile