Thursday, November 4, 2010

Enchiladas!!!

Hello bloggers
Thank you for following me and enjoying my posts :) I appreciate your support!
I'm getting more comfortable to the whole blog thing and i definitely enjoy sharing my love of food with you!

I have been cooking a lot more Mexican food lately and I'm really enjoying it! ( so is my tummy lol)

Please give me feedback on the post i have already shared with you, also if you have any special requests please let me know.

I have a few request for Healthier, lower calorie dishes, or even alternative cooking for those who are Lactose intolerant, or have food restrictions to things such as yeast or corn.

while I continue to think up those recipes, I'm going to share another one of my favorites:

Today's recipe is going to be Beef Enchiladas

Enchilada is the past participle of Spanish enchilar, which means "to add pepper to" or to season  with chilis

We are using typical ingredients in Mexican cooking such as corn tortillas, chilies, cheese (Queso Fresco) Protein of your choice, today we are using beef


 Beef Enchiladas
Yields 18
6 servings - 3ea  per serving


-2 lb Tenderloin roast
-18 Corn tortillas
-1 Roma tomato
-4 Cloves of garlic whole- peeled
-10 Guajillo peppers-dried

-1 small onion
-1 bay leaf
-4 Sprigs Cilantro
-Salt- to taste
-Pepper- to taste
-4 oz of tomato sauce
-chili powder- to taste
-Chicken Bullion- to taste
-8 oz Oil - canola or vegetable
-1 Tbsp of flour- for roux-(cooked mixture of flour and fat, oil is fine) used as a thickening agent
-1 Tbsp Oil
-Mexican Crumble Cheese (Queso Fresco)
-2 cups shredded Lettuce -ice burg is fine

-If you have a crock pot  it would be quite practical for this recipe

-If using a crock pot you can cook the meat in it at what ever setting you have time for submerge the meat in water and add 1/4 of the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 4 sprigs of cilantro and bay leaf cook until fork tender; if you're not using a crock pot : in a regular pot you would do the same as above but simmer on med-low heat until fork tender
-once beef is cooked, let cool, then shred. Discard the remaining cooked ingredients in pot(onion, cilantro, bay leaf, garlic you will need 1/2 a cup of the beef stock, but you can save the rest for other recipes)
-Mince 1/4 cup of onion and toss in with shredded beef

-In a sauce pan simmer the guajillo peppers(make sure you remove the stems first), tomato, 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 of small onion in 6 cups of water- simmer until cooked through or until softened
-discard half of water used
-in a blender liquefy remaining water with ingredients- strain through a chinois or fine strainer- to extract any pepper skins, seeds or large debris (this is the base for your sauce)
- you can use same size pot- heat up the 1 tbsp of oil for roux, once hot, add flour and mix thoroughly to avoid clumps ( you can use a whisk)
-once you mix roux well, slowly whisk in sauce base and whisk thoroughly to avoid clumping
-season with chili powder, chicken bullion and simmer (thickness of the sauce should be enough to coat the back of a spoon- not too thick)
-set sauce aside

-in a skillet heat up 8 oz of oil
- once hot- submerge 1 corn tortilla at a time for 3 seconds and then flip over and cook another 3 seconds ( we are not making them hard or crispy they need to keep their flexibility- we are only cooking them and preventing breakage when we roll them)
-Drain them on a paper towel
-once all cooked dip tortillas- one at at time, completely in sauce to cover both sides (you can use tongs for this)
-place a pinch- about 1oz of beef and onion mixture in the center of sauced tortilla, roll and place on plate crease side down to maintain shape
-once you do this with all of the tortillas- you can pour additional sauce over and top them with lettuce and crumble cheese to taste
-Enjoy!!!











Scratching the surface

Hello people...
Just like i promised you on my last recipe that I would post a 'non-sea food' recipe next... here it goes :)

The title of this post is 'scratching the surface'... of  my Mexican roots!
I really enjoy exploring different types of cuisines and anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Asian food of all types!

Although I get distracted by other food and very rarely cook Mexican food of course I LOVE it.

I'm going to share one of my personal favorites with you: Beef Tostadas!

I Love them and its some what of a 'comfort food' for me... it reminds me of home (Arizona)


Beef Tostadas
Yields 10 Tostadas
5 Servings

-10 Corn Tortillas
- 1.5 lbs tenderloin roast
-1 Onion
-5 Garlic cloves
-Cilantro
-Salt
-Mexican white Crumble cheese ( Queso Fresco)
-1 Can of Pinto Beans
-2 cups of oil ( of your choice to deep fry your tortillas)
-chili powder -to taste
-Sour Cream - to taste
-1 bay leaf

The salsa
-2 Tomatoes
-1 Jalapeno
-Oregano

-If you have a crock pot  it would be quite practical for this recipe

-If using a crock pot you can cook the meat in it at what ever setting you have time for submerge the meat in water and add 1/4 of the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 4 sprigs of cilantro and bay leaf cook until fork tender; if you're not using a crock pot : in a regular pot you would do the same as above but simmer on med-low heat until fork tender
-once beef is cooked, let cool, then shred. Discard the remaining cooked ingredients in pot(onion, cilantro, bay leaf, garlic you will need 1/2 a cup of the beef stock, but you can save the rest for other recipes)
-in a hot skillet add 1 tbsp of oil, and add 2 minced garlic, to this add beef, season with salt and black pepper and chili powder  to taste and 1/2 a cup of beef stock for moisture, simmer adjust seasoning done with the meat
- is a sauce pan , heat up 1 tsp of oil, add 1 clove of garlic, let the garlic roast a little bit. to this add the pinto beans, season with salt to taste  and simmer on low heat; once beans are thoroughly cooked ( you can squish a bean in between your fingers and it should be soft)remove the garlic clove and mash the beans with a potato masher until it reaches the consistancy above
-in sauce pan add the salsa components , tomatoes jalapeno and garlic clove with 1/4 of an onion, simmer in 1 cup of water, when ingredients are cooked through(softened) blend together, season with salt , pepper and oregano(not too much oregano, it is quite potent)  AND THERE YOU HAVE YOUR SALSA!!!
-in a small skillet heat up the 2 cups of oil *oil is hot enough to fry tortillas when you put it in the oil (using tongs) and it immediately starts to bubble, you leave it in 10 seconds and turn over , fry for another 10 seconds
-you can drain fat on paper towel
-when you are done frying the tortillas you are FINALLY ready to assemble!!!
-you spread about 1 tbsp of beans on the fried tortilla , add tbsp of beef on top of that , add sour cream and crumble some cheese to taste, top with salsa and cilantro leaves
-ENJOY!!!