Chilaquiles!

Chilaquiles!, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

Welcome to my current little kitchen obsession. Here's what's going on here~fried tortilla chips bathed in chile sauce and then dusted with finely grated cotija cheese. Sounds pretty good right? Well, hold onto your hats because that's only the beginning of this crazy good brunch I made for myself yesterday and the day before and the day before that! These ridiculously good wet nachos are then layered with sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, couple of eggs poached in chile sauce and then finished with a drizzle of crema. These things are addictive!
Inspiration came by way of a birthday lunch (thanks Sheena!), many months ago to Nopalito where they serve an appetizer version called Totopos Con Chile.
Traditionally, Chilaquiles are prepared for brunch as a way to use up stale tortillas, leftover salsa and cheese.

I was intrigued, in fact more than a little surprised that I'd never before encountered these given that I've been devouring Mexican cuisine since I made my first taco in Home Ec.

Anyhoo, after an intense Google-thon, here's how this all went down:

Red Chile Sauce

adapted from Bon Appetit

 

7 dried Guajillo chiles

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 medium onion

5 cloves garlic

1 jalepeno

1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons agave nectar

2 teaspoons Sriracha

salt to taste

Chips

6 to 8 corn tortillas, cut into 4 wedges each-leave them out overnight to dry
4 tablespoons of oil
salt

grated Cotija

Crema
8 ounces sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime  juice
salt

additional toppings:
sliced avocado
black beans
Cilantro-chopped
cooked chicken
 

Soak the chiles in 4 cups of boiling water for about 15 minutes. While the chiles are soaking, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet and cook the diced onions until brown and caramelized, add the garlic, jalepeno and paprika and cook for another minute or two until the jalepeno softens. Remove from the heat. Back to your chiles, reserving the soaking liquid, remove the stem and cut the chile open, remove the seeds and lay the chiles out on a cutting board and chop them all up. Pour the cooking liquid through a strainer to remove the seeds.

 In a blender, pour in the can of tomatoes, add the onion mixture and the chili pepper. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel. Place the lid on the blender with the central part of the lid removed. Stand by with the liquid and once the blend gets moving, slowly pour the liquid into the blender, just until the funnel forms and the sauce is blending nicely.
Lay out a baking sheet or large plate lined with paper towels. In the skillet, add 4 tablespoons oil and heat to medium high. When the oil is hot, place the tortilla wedges in a single layer and cook until golden brown turning them over with tongs, frying in batches until you're done, drain the chips on th paper towel and sprinkle with salt.
The next part of this goes a little fast. For the Totopo version I prep the grated cheese on a plate or a wide shallow dish and have it at the ready for when the chips come out of the sauce.
Drain off most of the oil and let the skillet cool down a little.
If making these for brunch, I'll have another smaller pan (with a fitted lid) ready so I can poach some eggs in the sauce as well. Crack eggs into ramekins.
Pour the pureed sauce into the skillet and bring to a simmer. Stir in the agave and the Sriracha.  Taste. Add salt, a pinch or two at a time, to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes and peppers. Add more agave and/or Sriracha if you want. Pour some sauce into the second pan and poach the eggs
Return the chips into the skillet and carefully stir to coat them with sauce. Cook for about a minute or so. If you're serving these as an appetizer you'll want to keep them crisp. With tongs, remove the chips, shaking off excess sauce and then dipping the chip onto the plate of cheese to coat. If you're going the brunch-poached egg route then a little additional cooking time is fine to make them fork friendly. With a slotted spoon, scoop up the chips and place them directly onto your serving platter or individual plates  and sprinkle cheese on top and then layer any additional toppings like avocado, black beans or cooked chicken. Lay the poached eggs on top and then drizzle crema on top and sprinkle with additional cheese and chopped cilantro and be ready to dive into the crazygoodness of Chilaquiles.
 

 

 

Refried Beans

Refried Beans, originally uploaded by michele wynne.
Refried beans are a little kitchen staple that I make all the time...or used to...until my recent job change. Lunch burritos and/or breakfast burritos were a weekly kitchen occurrence when I had to plan packing office lunches and quickie breakfast bites, thus purchasing several bags of beans a month I usually  from my neighborhood Latino produce market.

Months ago I pedaled across town to Costco for something I don't even remember. Whatever it was, was forgotten when I came across ginormous bag of pinto beans. A few mental mathematical calisthenics later I weighed the practicality of carrying around this burden of a bag and bought them anyway... and here they've sat, in a giant restaurant sized olive jar for these many months.

So months after committing my day to beans I finally cooked up a few.

The slow-cooker has become my go-to method for cooking all beans. I don't soak the beans first but I do pick them over for stones and funky looking bits before rinsing. I usually start them just before bedtime and cook them on low all night. You can also start them in the morning. The great thing about slow cooking beans that ultimately end up pureed or mashed is that the recipe doesn't seem to suffer much if you sleep in or hit happy hour after work and over cook the beans. Place 2 cups of the dried beans in the slow cooker with 6 cups of water. You can flavor the water with chicken seasoning and a few sprigs fresh thyme if you want, but I add so much flavoring after the beans are cooked that this is probably not necessary.

At any point during the bean cooking process, heat a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If you don't have caramelized onions in the fridge already, thinly slice an onion,

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion thinly sliced
salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2  teaspoon red pepper flakes
cooked beans
1 cup of chicken bouillon

sriracha to taste

salt

Heat the oil in a skillet on a medium high heat and add the sliced onions, cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, add a dash of salt and cook until the onions are browned and caramelized

what to do with 'em:

 

Nachos:

Cut about 6 corn tortillas into wedges, toss in a bowl with a splash of olive oil, a little salt and a dash of cumin, then bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes until crispy, remove from the oven and let cool a little and reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees.

Spread the refried beans across the bottom of a shallow baking dish or pie plate, place the tortilla chips over the beans, dipping them into the beans so they are standing at an angle rather than laying flat on the surface of the beans. Sprinkle with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and bake until the cheese is melted, another 5 minutes or so.

Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.

 

Dip:

stir in some of your favorite jarred salsa and grated cheese into the refried beans and heat in the microwave until the cheese is melted, stir to distribute the melted cheese and transfer into a serving dish. Top with a little more grated cheese and chopped cilantro and serve with tortilla chips.

 

Quick Quesadillas:

My favorite quick snack is to shred a little sharp cheddar cheese, heat up the refried beans in a microwave (I heat them in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap which I puncture with a fork) , then warm up 3-4 corn tortillas in a microwaveable steamer for 1 minute (this is to keep them soft and pliable for subsequent folding). Spread a thin layer of beans on the warm tortilla, you can also add a dollop of salsa if you like, and then finish with a sprinkle of shredded cheese. Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the tortilla, fold the tortilla in half, then in half again so you have filled triangles.

 

Of course, the beans are always a great addition to omelettes, burritos, enchiladas and tostada salads.

Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

I should call these Revelation Fish Tacos.
 

I can't begin to describe how freakin' delish and easy this was. I've never had any desire to eat, much less make, fish tacos. Actually, that's a big fat lie.  Several months ago, at a company Christmas party at Tacolicious, a platter of fish tacos passed before me. I tried one, just 'cuz it was there. Wow! Amazing! Who knew? No fish taco made it past me for the rest of the evening. I'm not a big fan of fish, yet, I remember thinking quite seriously: "I must figure out how to make these!" Then I forgot all about it. Until now.
 

While waiting for Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook to make it's way through the library wait-list to me, I got My Father's Daughter again. I am a big fan of this book. The photo of her fish tacos and fixin' spread was the first thing that caught my eye and attention this go-round with the book.

The fish (something white and flaky like cod or halibut is recommended-but if you're a big 'fraidy-cat like me, frozen tilapia works just fine) is cut into strips and batter fried in a 1-1 ratio of beer and flour with a little salt and pepper. Super simple.

 

The fixin's include:

• shredded cabbage with lime juice and salt
• crema: sour cream with lime juice and salt
• pico de gallo: red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, cilantro, lime & salt ~ chopped jalepenos optional
• sliced avocado sprinkled with lime and salt
• corn tortillas heated on the stove burner

 

Done & De-lish.