September 21, 2014 New Recipe: Green chili, tomatillo, blue corn enchiladas and Bogle’s new Phantom

A week ago Suzette bought two 40 lb. bags of green chili at the Chili Connection and processed them at the Center for Ageless Living.  She brought home a bag of roasted green chili several days ago.

 For breakfast, we made green chili, bacon and potato burritos in whole wheat flour tortillas.

Then we took bottles to the recycling place and went to see Harry Weil, who is suffering from cancer.  We signed his will and drank the bottle of Bogle Phantom, that I bought at Trader Joe’s on Thursday.  Here is the info on Bogle’s newly released Phantom:

Phantom is second from the left Add caption

WINEMAKER NOTES

The wait is over…Phantom has reappeared for the season! Bogle’s tantalizing apparition of rich berry and relentless spice returns to tease wine lovers. Full of flavor, concentration and intensity, this mysterious wine will haunt you well after the last sip is gone. A spectre of rubies sparkles in the glass, awaiting with its first impression. Bright red cherry fruit and black pepper tempt you to take that sip, with hints of brawny juniper, rich blackberry and briary boysenberry in the background. Succulent in mouthfeel, the wine showcases its versatile grape varietals: Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre. Aged for over 24 months in 1 and 2 year old American oak, tones of spicy vanilla and toasted coconut moderate the firm tannins and create a focused and intense finish. Enjoy this passionate and commanding red wine, yet another vintage impossible to ignore.

Petite Sirah 46% - Zinfandel 40% Cabernet Sauvignon 11% - Mourvèdre 3%

Vintage: 2011 Appellation: California Barrel Program Over 24 months in American oak Vineyard Source: Clarksburg, Lodi and Amador Release Date: August, 2014 Wine pH: 3.57 Wine Acidity: 0.58g/100ml Alcohol: 14.9%

We all enjoyed the rich smooth flavor of the Bogle Phantom wine.  I was happy I brought it because it is the type of big, full bodied red that Harry loves.

After visiting Harry, which Suzette cleverly characterized as his retirement party, I decided to drive to Pro’s Ranch Market on our way home to buy limes (3lbs./$.99), because since the change of ownership from Pro’s to Los Altos, the two day specials are now on Saturdays and Sundays.

After we bought limes, we bought 2 large avocados for $3.00 and a about 2 lbs. of tomatillos (2lbs./$.99).  Suzette said she had a hankering to make pork confit green chili enchiladas with the pork we had thawed out before leaving home.  So we bought a 1 lb. wheel of mozzarella/longhorn cheese, a 1lb. container of Los Altos sour cream with salt, 1 lb. of queso fresco and a package of 50 blue corn tortillas ($2.19).

When we arrived home, I de-husked the tomatillos and quartered them and then went to bed for a nap while Suzette made the tomatillo sauce by sautéing onions, garlic, tomatillos and green chili and then pureeing those ingredients in a blender.  She then made pork confit by cutting the pork chops into bites sized pieces and cooking them for 1 ½ hours in a casserole covered with olive oil in the oven at about 250˚ F.

The pieces of pork must have been too small because they became tough, rather than soft.

Suzette filled a ceramic baking dish with two or three layers of blue corn tortillas sautéed in green chili sauce to soften them, grated Mozzarella/Longhorn cheese, sautéed onions, sour cream, and pork confit.  When I awakened around 5:00 she was finishing the top layer and I sliced thin slices of queso fresco and laid them on the top of the casserole and Suzette then topped the enchiladas with a couple of spoonsful of green chili sauce, so it would not dry out.

The baked enchiladas 

Suzette then baked the enchiladas at around 350˚ for 30 minutes.  While the enchiladas were baking, we made guacamole with about 3 Tbsps. of onion, four or five small cloves of garlic, the juice of 1 lime, a couple of dashes of Cholulu hot sauce, and about 2 Tbsps. of fresh cilantro from our garden.

I fetched Modelo Especial beers from the garage fridge and at around 6:15 we were ready to eat.  We scooped large spoonsful of enchiladas onto our plates and garnished them with sour cream and guacamole and watched 60 Minutes.  The fresh blue corn tortillas had softened into a kind of mush, but a delicious cheese, sour cream and green chili sauce mush.  The pork confit had softened also but was still quite hard.  Suzette suggested that she could have kept the pieces of pork larger and they would not have hardened as much.  I said I was not sure but that sounded correct.

blue corn enchiladas garnished with sour cream and guacamole

After dinner Suzette sipped cognac and I sipped Calvados XO to wash down the rich enchiladas, as we watched two episodes of Miss Marple on Masterpiece Mystery.

We went to bed at 10:00 and slept soundly.

Bon Appétit