Mark’s Mom Karin, makes some mean enchiladas. Karin was born in the former East Germany, so she didn’t learn to make Red Chile Enchiladas there! She learned the recipe from her mother-in-law, Rose Candelaria, in Durango, Colorado. This is Mark’s spin on both of their recipes.
INGREDIENTS
Red Chile Sauce
• 12 Hatch red chiles with stems and seeds removed but not the veins
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
• 2 cloves organic garlic roughly chopped
• 2 peppercorns crushed
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano; use Mexican dried oregano, if possible
• 1/3 cup dried red Chile powder
• Sea salt to taste
Enchiladas
• 2–4 lbs pork or beef roast – boneless or bone in
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tsps of oregano
• 6–8” corn tortillas – right out of the bag
• Diced tomatoes
• Diced red onions
• Shredded Mexican cheese or Cheddar
• Sliced radishes
• Shredded iceberg lettuce
• Cilantro and a lime wedge to garnish, and you can always add a dollop of sour cream
PREPARATION
Red Chile Sauce
• Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chilies. Flatten the chiles as much as possible and place on a metal sheet pan and then lightly smoke and toast them in your smoker, taking care not to let them burn. You just want to warm them up and infuse that smoky flavor.
• Transfer the chiles to a pot, cover with water and bring them to a simmer; continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Set them aside to soak for another 10 minutes; by this time, they should be rehydrated and fleshy. Discard all but a cup of the water.
• Put 1 cup of chicken broth and the one cup of Chile water into the blender, add the garlic, peppercorns, oregano, salt, cinnamon and blend as smooth as possible. I also like to add some dried powdered Chile; use whatever level of heat you want to kick up your sauce.
• Add the chiles and blend them as much as you can so you get a nice thick liquid. Add more dried Chile or more broth to adjust to the desired thickness. You want it to have a nice thickness –– not too runny and not too thick –– like a nice gravy.
• Transfer the sauce to a bowl through a fairly fine strainer, pressing as hard as you can to extract as much of the flesh as possible. Discard the debris of tough skin still remaining. Add more salt and oregano if necessary. Your sauce is ready to go!
Meat Preparation and Enchilada Assembly
• While your sauce is underway, you can prep your meat. I have used everything from a boneless or bone-in pork roast that I cube and brown with a little flour. I have used chicken, crab, cubed fish, lobster, smoked brisket, beef cubes, basically whatever. Many times I will use the leftovers from a plentiful barbecue to make enchiladas the next day.
• Season with garlic, salt, pepper and more oregano.
• With your meat cubed and browned or if leftovers are ready to go, toss them in the prepared red Chile sauce and let everything simmer –– the longer the better so the meat absorbs the moisture of the red Chile sauce.
• To assemble the enchiladas, take one corn tortilla from the bag and quickly toss it in the sauce and pull it out with tongs and lay flat on the plate with which you will serve the enchiladas in. Don’t leave in the sauce for more than a couple of seconds or it will fall apart. You can always do a second as two on a plate look great.
• Spoon some meat and sauce on the dipped tortilla. Top with the cheese, onion, lettuce, radishes and tomato.
• Garnish with the lime, sour cream and diced cilantro.
Enjoy!