Tour of Fifty States: New Mexico's meal

This week’s meal was from New Mexico.  It’s been a very busy 2 weeks at work and haven’t had much time to work on the writeup … finally! Back in 2012, Kirstin and I took a long car trip and I think that our favorite stops were in New Mexico.  Next summer Bill and I would like to take the kids on a cross-country adventure.  I can’t wait to share Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, the gorgeous White Sands National Monument, and the miles and miles of pistachio orchards!  Bill and the kids like spicy food – oh, I can’t wait for them to try REAL chiles! I had some that were so hot (“mild” they were called) that made my eyes and nose run like crazy! They have to try some enchiladas “Christmas” style, topped half with red and green salsas (salsa rojo and salsa verde.)

Menu:  Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Pistachio Cake and for breakfast, Huevos Rancheros

Outcome:  Yum!  I really love Mexican food – whether it’s called “Tex-Mex” or “Hispanic” or “Latino” or “Mexican” it doesn’t matter to me!   It’s all basically tortillas, beans, meat, and veggies in different combinations.  None of us had ever had huevos rancheros before, and they were really quite good.  (Especially with our own eggs!)  It’s just corn tortillas, topped with eggs and a quick warm salsa … simple but quite delicious. 

And of course, pistachio cake.  Rich and chocolatey goodness! 

Next up:  Brandi’s turn! She chose Montana!

New Mexico's meal!

Enchiladas 

Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• One 28 oz. can enchilada or Mexican red sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper

  

Meat:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• ½ tsp. salt

The Rest:

• Canola oil, for frying
• 10 to 14 corn tortillas
• Two 4-oz. cans diced green chilies
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• ½ cup chopped black olives
• 3 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• Cilantro, for garnish

Directions

1.       For the sauce:

a.       In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the canola oil and flour. Whisk together and allow to bubble for 1 minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

2.       For the meat:

a.       While the sauce is simmering, brown the ground beef with the onions in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain the fat, add the salt and stir to combine. Turn off the heat and set aside.

3.       For the rest:

a.       In a small skillet over medium heat, heat some canola oil. Lightly fry the tortillas just until soft. Do not crisp. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat until all the tortillas have been fried.

b.      Preheat the oven to 350 º F.

c.       Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. One at a time, dip each tortilla into the sauce. Set the sauce-soaked tortilla on a plate. Place on some of the meat mixture some chilies, green onions and black olives. Top with a generous portion of grated cheese. Roll up the tortilla to contain the filling inside.

d.      Place the tortilla seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas and pour the remaining sauce over the top. End with a generous sprinkling of cheese and any other bits of chiles, green onions or olives you have left over from the filling.

 

Just before adding the cheese

e.      Bake the enchiladas for 20 minutes, or until bubbly. Serves 8.

MMM...beef enchiladas!

Pistachio Cake

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1 package (4 oz.) pistachio instant pudding mix
• ½ cup orange juice
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 4 whole eggs
• ¾ cup chocolate syrup

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 350 º. Grease and flour Bundt pan.

2.       Mix all ingredients but chocolate syrup and beat for two minutes on medium-high. Pour ¾ of the batter into the Bundt pan.

3.       Add chocolate syrup to the remaining batter and mix well. Pour chocolate-laced batter on top of the pistachio batter.

4.       Bake for 1 hour at 350 º.

5.       Coat cake with chocolate ganache and chopped pistachios.

Can also be made in a 9x13 pan if you don't own a Bundt pan!

Ganache:

• 8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla

To make the icing, mix cream with corn syrup and heat in a microwave safe container. Add chopped chocolate to a separate bowl. Add vanilla to warm cream mixture, then pour over chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate totally melts and mixture is smooth.

It's green from the pistachio pudding!

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros!

Cook time:  30 minutes

Ingredients

• 10 corn tortillas
• 2 cans (15 oz.) whole tomatoes (fire roasted if possible) in juice
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Cilantro, if desired
• 1 (6 oz.) can green chiles
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 10 eggs
• Salt to taste

 Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2.       Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Stack 2 tortillas in skillet and cook 30 seconds, then flip stack over with tongs and cook 30 seconds more. While second tortilla cooks on bottom, turn top tortilla over with tongs, keeping tortillas stacked. Flip stack again and cook in same manner, turning over top tortilla and flipping stack again so that both tortillas are softened and both sides puff slightly, then deflate (do not let them become browned or crisp). Wrap tortillas loosely in foil and keep warm in oven. Fry remaining tortillas in same manner, adding 1 tablespoon oil to skillet for each batch. (Do not clean skillet.)

3.       Purée tomatoes with their juice, onion, cilantro, chipotle, garlic, and salt in a blender until very smooth. Carefully add mixture to hot skillet (it may spatter) and simmer, stirring occasionally, until salsa is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

4.       Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then crack 2 eggs into skillet and cook 3 to 4 minutes for runny yolks, or to desired doneness. Transfer to a plate and keep warm, covered, then cook remaining eggs in remaining oil in same manner. Season eggs with salt and pepper.

5.       Spoon some salsa onto each plate and top with 2 tortillas, slightly overlapping them. Transfer 2 eggs to tortillas on each plate and top with some of remaining salsa. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired.