December 17, 2014 The Shed Red Chili Enchiladas with Chicken and Mexican Squash and Martha Stewart Spicy Pecans

December 17, 2014  The Shed Red Chili Enchiladas with Chicken and Mexican Squash and Martha Stewart Spicy Pecans

Today I had to go meditate at 7:00, so at 4:30 I started making the red chili sauce for the enchiladas.

Here is the recipe:

The Shed's Red Chili Enchilada Sauce (1972)

1/4 c Canola oil

2 cloves minced garlic

2 T flour

1/3 - 1/2 cup hot, or extra hot, red chili powder ( I usually use a combination and closer to 1/2 cup)

1 cup tomato juice

2 cups water

1.  Saute garlic in oil

2.  Add flour, cook a few minutes till flour smell is faded.  Remove from heat

3.  Add chili powder and stir w/whisk till smooth - it's very thick at this point

4.  Add tomato juice and water.

5.  Set back on heat and cook till thick - this doesn't take very long.

Bob, I make four times this recipe and freeze whatever I don't use.  

Enjoy.  Janis LaFountain

There are two secrets to making this sauce properly.  One is the base of the sauce is a roux.  The other secret is that it becomes a cream sauce by using mainly tomato juice.

I adjusted the recipe by using only one-half of the amount of oil called for and made 4 recipes of the chili sauce but reduced the water by half, so I would not need to cook it so long.  Like any cream sauce, you can tell when it creamy (not too thick and lumpy or too thin and runny) Voila!  

Enchiladas

I had in the fridge from the other day’s cooking the meat of three chicken thighs and 30 oz. of chicken stock, plus 1 lb. of requesón and 1 lb. of shredded mozzarella cheese and three Mexican squashes and 24 corn tortillas.  I sliced three Mexican squashes thinly. 

I made the enchiladas in a large pyrex baking dish.

I heated a combination of the red chili sauce and chicken stock in a small sauce pan large enough to hold one tortilla and poached each tortilla in the sauce until each softened and became pliable.

Suzette came into the kitchen to help me and placed the ingredients on each layer of tortillas that I had poached and laid in the baking dish.

I first laid a layer of six tortillas flat on the bottom of the baking dish.  Then Suzette laid a layer of thinly sliced Mexican Squash on the tortillas and sprinkled some of the shredded mozzarella on the squash.

I then spread red chili sauce on top of each layer after Suzette laid the ingredients on the layer below it.

The layers from bottom to top were:

Tortillas

Mexican Squash and mozzarella

Tortillas

Chicken and requesón

Tortillas

Requesón and mozzarella cheese

Tortillas

Mozzarella cheese

I then filled the baking dish to the top with a mixture of 50% chicken stock and 50% red chili.

We baked the enchiladas for 35 minutes at 375˚ or until the ingredients were thoroughly melted.  

I sliced an avocado and diced about three Tbsp. of yellow onion and fetched sour cream from the fridge and we garnished the enchiladas with fresh minced onion, avocado and sour cream and drank beers with dinner.

I love The Shed’s recipe for red chili and am eternally thankful to Janis LaFountain for this recipe.

At the Shed the enchiladas are served with whole pinto beans and posole.

Bon Appétit

After dinner Suzette found a recipe for Spicy Pecans and made a batch for our Christmas Eve Open House.  Here is Martha Stewart's recipe that Suzette used:

Spicy Pecans

Photography:

http://www.marthastewart.com/262059/spicy-pecans

Yield Makes 5 cups

Ingredients

·          

o    1 tablespoon coarse salt

o    2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

o    1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

o    1/2 cup sugar

o    2 large egg whites

o    5 cups (20 ounces) pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, and sugar.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Whisk in spice mixture. Stir in pecans. Spread coated pecans in a single layer onto the baking sheets. Bake for about 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees. Rotate the sheets in oven, and cook for 10 minutes more.
3. Immediately spread pecans in a single layer on clean parchment paper; let cool before serving or storing. (Pecans will keep, in an airtight container, up to 1 week at room temperature.)

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