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(upbeat music)
Okay, so the core components of Tex-Mex style enchiladas
are fillings, sauce, tortillas, and cheese.
Let's start with the fillings.
First up, a braised beef.
I've got 1 1/2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
that I'm breaking up into one inch cubes.
Generously seasoning with kosher salt,
mixing thoroughly to combine,
and letting sit at room temperature for about an hour.
Then in a high walled saute pan or braiser,
we're sauteing one large, roughly chopped onion
in two tablespoons of neutral oil.
Once you got a little bit of color going,
we're gonna add four crushed cloves of garlic,
two bay leaves, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of oregano.
Allow that to be merely kissed by the heat
for about 30 seconds.
Then add enough beef stock to just barely cover the onions.
Then we're gonna sort of nestle the beef on top
making an effort to only partially submerge it in the stock
because instead of searing the beef,
we're gonna rely on the oven to bring the brownness.
Oop, almost forgot teaspoon of black peppercorns.
Bring things up to a simmer.
And then once the guy's bubbling,
he's headed into a preheated 300 degree Fahrenheit oven
for anywhere from two to four hours.
Fetching every 45 minutes or so to shuffle the beef
to make sure that it browns evenly.
Then once the beef is very, very tender,
we're gonna optionally cover and refrigerate overnight.
This just makes the beef easier to shred
and the fat easier to remove from the cooking liquid.
And there you have it,
the filling for our beef enchiladas,
which then brings us to the question of sauce.
Most often a cherry red enchilada sauce,
or a classic salsa verde.
To make the former, I'm starting with two ounces
of guajillo chiles, one ounce of ancho chiles,
one ounce of pasilla chiles,
and two or three chiles de arbol,
all of which I'm going to stem, seed, and roughly chop,
before treating them to a little toasting
in a dry saute pan.
Three to four minutes over medium heat or until fragrant.
And then we're adding just enough water
to cover the chilies,
along with half a white onion, roughly chopped,
and three cloves of garlic peeled and smashed.
Bring the water up to a bare simmer,
kill the heat and cover,
allowing to steep for 30 minutes
before transferring into the jar of a blender,
along with one cup of the steeping water,
which Kendall and Nico dared me to taste.
So I did and gotta say it was pretty good.
Not gonna replace my morning coffee anytime soon.
Anyway, we're adding that to the blender
and blending on high speed for about one minute
until completely smooth.
Go ahead and set that aside because believe it or not,
we're not done yet.
To finish the actual sauce,
we're heating three tablespoons of neutral flavored oil
in a high walled saute pan until shimmering.
At which point we're gonna add three tablespoons of flour,
whisking together to make a thick but whiskable roux,
which we're gonna cook over medium high heat
for one to two minutes until it starts to turn
a lovely shade of golden brown.
At which point we're gonna add one teaspoon of cumin
and 3/4 of a teaspoon of oregano,
allowing that to toast in the hot roux for about 30 seconds,
and then slowly streaming in 3 1/2 cups of chicken
or beef stock.
Adding one little splash at a time
and whisking until completely combined.
Once we got all the stock whisked in there,
we're also gonna add our chili puree.
Looks to have yielded at about cup and a half,
two cups worth.
Now we're gonna bring this up to a simmer
over medium high heat.
Cranking the heat all the way down to low.
And cooking, whisking occasionally
for anywhere from five to 15 minutes
until the sauce comfortably coats the back of a spoon.
So that's sauce number one and filling number one.
Let's move on to chicken.
I've got two large chicken breasts here
that I'm gonna butterfly,
that is cut them across the center of the breast
and open them up like a book.
Then over in a wide high walled saute pan,
I'm bringing about five cups of water, four garlic cloves,
two bay leaves, a tablespoon of peppercorns,
and half a roughly chopped onion up to a simmer.
Once riotously bubbling, we're gonna remove the lid,
kill the heat, and let it stand
until it's reached about 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, we're gonna drop in our chicken breasts
and let them steep in the hot water for about 15 minutes,
until their thickest point registers 160 Fahrenheit.
I know this looks kind of gross,
but it's sort of like a cheater sous vide.
The breasts are being slow poached,
which means they're gonna retain more moisture
and end up less stringy once cooked.
Once they're up to temp,
we're gonna let them cool the room temperature
or fridge overnight before shredding.
Now onto the sauce, in this case a salsa verde.
I've got two jalapenos that I'm gonna stem,
cut in half, and seed.
Two poblanos, same deal
and eight to 10 peeled tomatillo staying in one piece.
Oop, come on back, little guy.
These are all headed onto a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet,
along with two cloves of garlic,
and are headed under the broiler
for anywhere from five to 15 minutes,
depending on your broiler's strength.
We just wanna catch a little light char on the vegetables.
Go ahead and let those cool off a bit
before adding to the jar of a blender,
along with 10 to 12 cilantro stems folded up,
however necessary.
A generous pinch of kosher salt,
a few twisted freshly ground black pepper,
then blend on high speed for about a minute.
Making good use of a blender stuffing stick if available.
We want this sauce to be pourable,
but still have a nice texture to it,
so don't over blend.
Last but not least,
we're gonna do a little vegetarian filling.
Sauteing half an onion, that's sort of somewhere
between sliced and chopped, slopped.
Half a slopped onion for two to three minutes
until beginning to soften and take on some color.
Scooting things to the side
and adding one small slopped zucchini.
Letting that saute for another two to three minutes
until it too is starting to take on some color.
And I had one too many poblanos on that broiler tray,
so I'm gonna add that too,
skin removed and roughly slopped.
Ew, that didn't sound good.
I'm gonna stop using that word now.
We're then sauteing everything together
for five to seven minutes until lightly caramelized.
Last thing we gotta do before assembling
and baking is toast our corn tortillas.
Just dropping those directly over an open flame,
until it's got some nice char
and becomes appropriately flexible.
Gonna need about 12 tortillas for an average-size casserole,
or eight for a 10-inch cast iron pan.
To make sure they stay pliable,
we're keeping them warm as we toast them
in a clean dish towel.
Now to assemble, we're first laying down
a solid half cup of sauce, largely for stickage prevention.
So we're gonna spread it out evenly
on the bottom of the pan.
Then the assembly line goes like this.
First, the tortillas dipped in the sauce,
thoroughly saturating it and covering every square inch,
transferring to a designated rolling surface
'cause things are gonna get slopped.
Adding the filling, in this case with the salsa verde,
I'm going with the shredded chicken.
And rolling up tightly into a sort of savory cigar,
placing that seam side down in the appropriate corner
of your casserole.
Rinse and repeat until the whole dang thing's full.
Nestle the edge to edge with tortillas,
top of additional salsa verde.
Then comes the cheese, which, of course,
we shredded ourselves.
Six to eight ounces of Monterey Jack, pepper jack,
or mild cheddar.
Then it's the exact same procedure with different parts
for the beef enchiladas.
Thoroughly coating each tortilla in classic enchilada sauce,
stuffing to the rafters with beef wrapping tightly
and arranging symmetrically.
This time I'm gonna use a 10-inch cast iron pan.
Extra sauce drizzled over top,
and, of course, lots and lots of cheese.
I'm gonna go with both cheddar
and Monterey Jack for this one.
Last but not least, for the vegetarian version,
I'm dipping first in the enchilada sauce,
loading it up with our cooked vegetables,
and a rope of Oaxaca cheese, wrapping up tightly,
and same procedure.
But for this one, I'm using both sauces
in what I think will be a controversial,
but delicious decision.
No matter how you chose to stuff and stack,
these guys are headed into a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven,
first being covered in foil.
Then after 10 minutes, we're gonna remove the foil,
bake for an additional five to 10
until bubbly and lightly brown.
To garnish, I'm gonna crumble some farmer's cheese
or Cotija over top.
Hit it with a little bit of grated lime zest.
Drizzle with crema available wherever crema is sold.
And scatter with cilantro in big pick offable pieces
like these.
If you're like me and you don't like cilantro.
And there you have it some absolutely lovely
Tex-Mex enchiladas, positively brimming with flavor,
and of course melted cheese.
And depending on which sauce and filling you choose,
either quite easy and quick,
or a little challenging in taking
the better part of the day.
Either way, it's like an hour and a half
or a day well spent.
(gentle music)