Enchiladas work as side or entree
This basic recipe for cheese enchiladas is the foundation to a lifetime of enchiladas. The technique works for beef, chicken or pork enchiladas. The sauce is a chile gravy. Use it on practically anything, and you won’t be disappointed.
I like to make a batch of enchiladas and serve them as a side dish with steak, guacamole and rice or potatoes.
Ingredients:
12 corn tortillas
2 cups grated cheddar cheese, preferably Tillamook
1 small onion, diced
1-2 chopped serrano chiles, optional
1½ cup enchilada cup sauce (recipe below)
½ cup vegetable, canola or corn oil
Sauce ingredients
Two cups chicken stock or premium chicken broth
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 tablespoon ground red chile like chimayo or any other pure red chile
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon onion powder
*½ teaspoon white pepper
*½ teaspoon cumin
*½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions:
Combine cheese, onion and chiles.
Prepare the sauce.
Prepare sauce. Heat a sauce pan on high heat and add canola oil. Add a little flour at a time and whisk into hot oil. Make sure the color stays light brown. Once all the flour is whisked, slowly add half the stock and stir. Stir in the remaining ingredients, then the rest of the stock.
Continue at a steady boil until the sauce is reduced to a 1½ cups. Make sure the sauce isn’t too thick as it will bake with the enchiladas.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle with a rim and add enough oil to cover the bottom thoroughly.
Have a paper plate or paper-lined plate ready plus a 9 by 12 baking dish.
With a pair of tongs or a heat-resistant spatula, put a tortilla in the hot oil. Flip after 1-2 seconds, just long enough to make it limp. Drain and set on paper plate. Do the same with two more tortillas.
Using the first tortilla you cooked, place a two heaping spoonfuls of the cheese mixture on one side and roll up, making sure the mixture is evenly dispersed inside. Place the enchilada seam-side down in the dish.
Repeat until your supply of tortillas is exhausted, adding oil as needed. Reserve any remaining cheese, onion and chile.
Pour sauce over enchiladas, top with any remaining cheese mixture and bake for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling.
*To do the sauce justice, use whole black and white peppercorns and cumin seed. Toast them in a hot cast iron for about four minutes and grind into powder in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it’s really pretty simple and the difference is dramatic.
Memphis-Style Dry-Rub Ribs
Dry, please.
My favorite ribs in the whole world, serve with a variety of sauces but don’t be surprised if you dip less and less with each bite…
2 3 to 3 1/2 pound slabs St. Louis-style spare ribs
2-3/4 cups Memphis-Style Dry Rub (recipe below)
Trim bottom side of ribs of white membrane and trim excess fat. Pat both sides of the ribs so that no meat is visible. Wrap and refrigerate over night, or at least an hour or two.
Preheat the grill to 250. If using gas, run one side. If using wood or charcoal, gather them on one side of the barbecue. Place ribs meat-side down on the side not over direct heat. Put a handful of pecan or apple wood chips in a perforated foil packet and place over direct heat, holes facing up. Have another handy if smoke runs out.
Smoke for 2 to 2-1/2 hours, then flip for the last 45 minutes to an hour or until an internal temperature of 155 is reached. Set out for at least 10 minutes before chopping the ribs.
Serve with baked beans and tangy slaw.
Memphis-Style Dry Rub
Makes about 3 cups
1 cup Paprika
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sea salt
3 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons toasted, ground coriander seed
2 tablespoons toasted, ground cumin seed
2 tablespoons toasted, ground tellicherry pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
Combine thoroughly and store in an air-tight container.
Buckaroo Beans
Texas cattlemen are all descendents of the vaqueros, Spanish for cowboys. They wrote the book on cattle herding and surviving long hauls on that hard-scrabble prairie. But the word vaquero, pronounced bockero, gradually became buckaroo to the tongue-tied Tennesseans and other assorted Southerners who showed up looking for a good deal on land.
Pinto beans are a mainstay in Mexico. Most barbecue-rich regions, including Oklahoma, are more likely to serve baked beans with their cookouts. But in Texas, pinto beans in a thick, chile-based sauce are more common. The Ranch Style company has made a pretty nice livin’ off them.
Buckaroo beans are Robin to any Texas barbecue's Batman.
Two cups pinto beans
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 tablespoons Texas-style brisket run
3-4 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup vegetable broth
Soak the beans over night in water, making sure the beans are covered by at least an inch. In a hurry? Put the beans in the same amount of water, bring to a boil, cut off heat and cover tightly for one hour.
Discard water and clear any pebbles or unfavorable looking beans.
Cover with enough water to immerse water by two inches. Bring to a boil and simmer with lid half on until beans are soft, about 90 minutes, and adding water as liquid cooks off.
Once soft add remainging ingredients and cook at least another 30 minutes, but the longer they simmer they better they will be.
Smoked brisket, in a hurry.
A nice rich crust with juicy center.
I know, I know it’s an oxymoron. But speed is relative when you’re dealing with brisket. The only way to speed up the process is to cook a smaller hunk or meat, and that’s what I’ve got here for you.
This is my interpretation of a Texas-style brisket, using ingredients common in Mexican and German cuisine as well as those traditional flavor-enhancers for brisket. This one packs so much flavor you’ll never dip it in sauce. IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST slice across the grain to get the desired effect.
Ingredients:
1 2-3 pound flat-cut brisket
4 tablespoons Texas BBQ rub (recipe below)
2 cups Texas BBQ mop (recipe below)
1 cup pecan wood chips
foil
If using a wood or charcoal grill, light them and burn them to their hot, glowing embers. Make sure you’re wood or charcoal is on only one side of the barbecue.
You can do this on a gas grill if you’ve got multiple heating elements. To start, light all elements and heat until you’ve got 400-degrees constant temperature.
Work the rub into the brisket on all sides, pressing in firmly. Place the brisket over direct heat for 7-10 minutes on both sides to creat a nice crust.
While the meat is cooking, put the chips in the foil and wrap tight. Poke holes in the top of the pouch.
If using charcoal/wood, move the meat to the side without direct heat. If using gas, turn off the elements beneath the meat. If you have four elements, turn off all but one. Try to maintain temperature between 250 and 300 degrees.
Place the wood pouch over the direct heat and mop the brisket. Let the meat smoke for about 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 155. Mop every 20 minutes or so. Let stand 10 minutes before carving, it will still be cooking in that time and will be plenty hot when you cut into it.
Sliced brisket, buckaroo beans topped with avocado-tomatillo salsa with sliced kosher dills and plenty of fresh, sliced red onion.
Serve with buckaroo beans, sliced kosher dill pickles and fresh onions, red, white or green all work.
Sauce is optional, but trust me you won’t need it. But if you must, just use some Head Country.
Texas-style brisket rub
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh toasted and ground cumin seed
1 teaspoon fresh toasted and ground coriander seed
1 teaspoon fresh toasted and ground white peppercorns
1 teaspoon fresh toasted and ground black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
Mix well and enjoy.
Texas-style brisket mop
1 12 0z. bottle German beer
12 oz. apple juice
1/2 cup vinegar
2-4 shallots
3-5 dried red chiles
2-3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon Texas-style brisket rub
Put all the ingredients in a pot and boil until about 1/4 of the liquid has reduced.
Strawberries Newport Recipe
I found this unofficial recipe in our archives from Melba Lovelace column…
It’s easy except for the pastry, which like any good pastry, takes awhile and a lot of patience.
PUFF PASTRY
1/4 lb. sweet butter
1/4 lb. all-purpose flour
2 to 2 1/2 oz. ice water
1 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
Knead butter in ice water or cold running water. Shape into 4x6x1/4-inch oblong. Wrap in foil and chill 15 minutes.
On a chilled smooth surface, make a ring with the flour allowing a 6-inch hollow center.
Pour mixture of remaining ingredients into ring gradually while forming a ball with the liquid and flour.
Knead dough lightly until smooth.
Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes. Roll dough into a neat oblong measuring about 6×16 inches and a little less than 1/3 inch thick.
Place chilled butter pad about 1 inch from an end of the oblong.
Fold dough over the butter to form a pouch. Press sides together.
Roll dough evenly out again to the 6×16 inch rectangle.
Fold dough into thirds. Wrap in foil and chill 30 minutes.
Repeat the process of rolling, folding and chilling 5 more times.
Roll dough and cut into the shape you desire.
Bake in a 500-degree oven 5 minutes, reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer.
Pastry is done if light when lifted.
CUSTARD
1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c,. all-purpose flour
3 to 4 well beaten eggs
Vanilla extract Almond extract
Scald milk. Mix sugar, flour and beaten eggs in top of a double boiler over boiling water. Beat mixture until light.
Gradually add scalded milk. Stir until well blended. Cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat, and continue to stir. Add dash of almond and vanilla extract. Cool before placing on pastry.
TOPPING
2 pints fresh strawberries
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 T. vanilla
Cut the tops off the berries and cut berries in half. Combine with brown sugar and set aside.
Whip cream, granulated sugar and vanilla in a mixer or with a whisk until it holds a stiff peak.
To assemble: Remove the top half of the baked individual puff pastry. Ladle on approximately 1/4-cup of the custard, followed by the strawberries. Replace the top half of the puff pastry. Top with generous dollop of whipped cream and serve.
Make your own Philly Cheesesteak or Cheesy Caesar Chickensteak
The most daunting thing about making your own Philly at home is the meat. It’s easy to find, but difficult to get butchered the way you need it. At Pat’s and Geno’s in Philadelphia they used wafer-thin ribeye. The steaks are partially frozen then sliced across the top rather than the sides. To emulate this, I took a fresh, half-pound ribeye and put it in the freezer for 1 hour. The I cut the steak in half and used the edged flattened by the slice to balance the steak on the cutting board while I shaved the face of the steak with a long, extremely sharp butcher knife. While I didn’t get the full wafer-thin steaks I did get the wafers in smaller pieces. Ultimately, you chop up the beef anyway, so the result was great. Of course, I had to add a fresh serrano to my pepper-onion mix for a little Texas heat, but don’t feel obligated.
Mayo is the condiment of choice back East, but choose your favorite. I tried one with a little kicked-up Caesar mayo that turned out terrific.
Check out the Pat’s and Geno’s sites to learn more about the history of this unique sandwich.
Below the Philly recipe is something I came up with, call it a Cheesy Caesar Chickensteak. The technique is the same, but uses chicken breast. And I’ve added a slaw made with that forementioned kicked-up Caesar mayo.
Makes 2-3 sandwiches
Half-pound ribeye steak, sliced wafer-thin.
Half a sweet onion
Half a green pepper
1 serrano pepper (optional)
2 slices favorite cheese, I like provolone, or quarter to half cup Cheez Whiz.
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder.
1 tablespoon of oil
Mayo or condiment of your choice is optional.
Hoagie rolls
Using a cast-iron griddle or skillet (No Teflon!) heat the oil at medium high heat. If using a two-burner griddle set one side to low. Fry the steaks and chop, using a sharp, metal spatula (or two if you want to be authentic!). Stir fry until browned, about a minute, then season with salt, pepper and garlic. Stir briefly, then set aside.
Saute sliced onion and peppers in remaining oil, no more than a minute, then group together to form a flat mound. Place the meat on top of the mound and the cheese on top of the meat. Let warm until the cheese melts and integrates.
Toast the requisite number or hoagie rolls, slice and open wide. Add mayo or condiment of your choice now. Carefully slide a spatula, or two, under the onions and lift enough to fill one sandwich. Slide the filling into the bun, making sure the cheese stays top side. Eat with care and plenty of napkins. It’s a mess, but you’ll love it.
Chickensteaks with onions and hot peppers plus Kicked-up Caesar Slaw
Cheesy Caesar Chickensteak
Makes two small sandiwiches or one huge one.
1 partically thawed chicken breast, shaved wafer-thin.
Half a sweet onion
1 serrano chile
1 tsp each: salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder.
2 slices of provolone or 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan.
1/4 cup Kicked-up Caesar Mayo (recipe below)
1/4-1/2 head small, green cabbage.
1-2 teaspoons olive oil (not extra virgin!)
Heat oil on a cast-iron griddle or skillet. Fry chicken until it changes color, about a minute, flipping and dicing with a sharp spatula (or two). Season with salt, pepper and garlic and mix before setting aside or moving to unlit side of griddle.
Saute onions and peppers until they start to soften, 1-2 minutes. Form a foundation with cooked onions and peppers then stack the chicken on top.
Cover with two slices of provolone or fresh-grated parmesan. Continue to cook until cheese melts or integrates.
Serve on toasted hoagie rolls or italian rolls.
Kicked-up Caesar Mayo
Half cup mayo, light works fine
1 tbsp. anchovy paste or two 2 anchovy fillets
1 serrano chile
1 tsp each: salt, fresh ground pepper.
Juice of half a fresh lime
Blend all ingredients and set aside at least a half hour. For slaw, mix mayo with shredded cabbage.
