Week 9 - Mothers' Day Especial

Since it was Mothers' Day, Kitchen Mom got her choice for dinner tonight.  She asked for enchiladas, so we got to work; kitchen ninja style.

Full disclosure.  I'd never made enchiladas before.  I'd eaten a lot of them in the past, but I'd never actually taken the time to think through what goes into making them.  Breaking it down was easy.  3 simple ingredients: cheese, sauce, and tortillas.  We toyed with the idea of store-bought sauce, but that just didn't seem right so we set out to make our own enchilada sauce from scratch (with a can of El Paso in back up just in case!)

For body in the sauce we minced a quarter of an onion and sweated it down in some olive oil.  Wes smashed up a couple of cloves of garlic that we put through a garlic press and added as well.

Once that was cooked through, we added a couple of spoonfuls of flour and made a quick roux (I like thick sauce).  Once the flour looked cooked, we added a bunch of spices that sounded Mexican: cumin, red chili powder, onion powder, and salt).  Then one small can of tomato paste went into the saucier.  I grabbed a whisk and Wes began to add chicken broth to the roux.  We went until it was a half as tight as I wanted it to end up (about 3 cups if I had to guess; add another cup of broth if you like thinner sauce).  When everything was incorporated, we left to sauce to bubble away.

Next was the tortillas.  Some day I'm going to make my own, but not today.  We took a package of store-bought corn tortillas and cooked them in a small skillet with a little bit of canola oil.  Each tortilla cooked for about 2-3 minutes per side, just enough so they were pliable and not raw.  I used the tortilla going in next to blot the excess oil off the one coming out.  We did the whole dozen, but only 10 ended up fitting in the pan.

While I prepped the tortillas (Wes still isn't up to frying quite yet), Wes went out and picked some fresh cilantro.  He cleaned it himself and I helped him get a good chop on it.  He also grated a block of cheese (we mixed white and yellow cheddar).  All of that went into a bowl and we also added 1/4 of an onion, diced and left raw.

We set the oven to pre-heat at 350 degrees, but moved the shelf to the top because we're going to end it on broil.  While the oven heated up, we set up our prep line.  And this is where it got interesting and messy!

  This was full on teamwork at it's finest.  We started the pan with a thin layer of the sauce at the bottom.  I took the hot tortillas and dipped each one in the still bubbling sauce.  Tongs helped, but ultimately it took fingers.  As I laid each tortilla, Wes took a handful of the cheese mixture and filled the middle.  I rolled them up and slid them to the side.  All 10 fit in very tightly.  Then Wes covered the whole mess in even more cheese.  Definitely not for the lactose intolerant.

We filled the whole pan up and it went into the oven for 15 minutes.  Once everything was good and bubbly, I switch over to broil for 5 minutes to finish the top.  While we were waiting, we heated up some black beans and a bowlful of corn.

How did it turn out?  Well, the El Paso is still in the cupboard.  Wes ate THREE!!!  And beyond that, well this picture says it all...

Happy Mothers' Day from the Kitchen Ninja!

Week 8 - South of Border Again!

First pasta over and over again and now Mexican food.  We definitely get into ruts around here; but usually in a good way.  This week we were going to grill, but the grill was way dead (trip to Home Depot next week for a new one!) so we decided to go with Arroz con Pollo instead.  For the gringos and gringas in our loyal readership that would be "rice with chicken".  Deliciously slow cooked chicken and rice to be exact.

We started out dicing a bunch of veg.  One white onion, one whole red pepper, a carrot and two celery stalks all got a small dice.  Everything the same size for even cooking! (I swear I must say that a million times to Wes as he breaks down the produce.)  No pictures here -- I figure you know what Wes looks like with the knife by now.

Next three medium sized (meaning normal size, not those mutant, hormone grown monstrosities from the mega mart) boneless, skinless chicken breasts went into our dutch oven with a little olive oil.  These were cooked until they started to get a good brown on the outside, but definitely not cooked through.  Medium high heat helps speed this along and also builds that good crust on the bottom of the pan.

Next went the vegetables with a pat of butter for flavor.  Onion and carrots first because they take longer.  Pepper and celery next, all cooked until translucent.  We worked the tasty burnt chicken bits off the bottom using the moisture from the cooking vegetables.  Two cloves of garlic got minced and tossed in and let cook for a couple of minutes.

The next step is a big cheat, but it saves a bunch of effort.  We took a box of Spanish rice (spice packet included!) and dumped the whole thing into the Dutch Oven.  Goya is the favorite brand here, but any cook in a pot kind will work.  A couple of big stirs to let the rice and spices coat all the vegetables, then we added one large can of diced tomatoes and nestled the chicken back into the pot with all this goodness.

Wes shook up a carton of chicken broth, and that was added until everything was covered in liquid.  Once the liquid started to simmer, on went a lid and the whole thing was dropped to low.  Wes went and played Legos and we let the whole thing cook for about 30 minutes.  I checked about 20 minutes in to make sure there was still liquid cooking away.

At the 30 minute mark we took the lid off and fished out the chicken breasts.  We took them over to a cutting board and Wes shredded the whole thing into little delicious pieces.  Wes insisted on calling it a tearing board for the rest of the night.

After a quick trip to pick some cilantro from our garden we were ready to eat.  Wes had seconds, I ate myself sick, and mom saved everything for leftover lunches all week long, so I think it turned out pretty well.

Next week -- the long awaited return of Ask the Kitchen Ninja!