Enchiladas :)

Tis a Saturday, a Saturday near the end of summer, a Saturday full of little motivation to continue stressing over summer homework, a Saturday to cook. My dad roasted chicken yesterday (an adventure all in its own) and we have a surplus of frozen spinach, onion and an unopened bag of corn tortillas. Seriously its as if fate is staring me in the face shouting, "Make enchiladas!" Okay fine, I will.

But what kind to make!?!? I am indecisive, "Salsa Verde or ancho, salsa verde or ancho, salsa verde or ancho...AHHH!" Compromise, make both. Period. Its done, I want both.

*P.S. I am silly and neglected to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. I would suggest doing this while you cook*

To begin we dumped a good pile of ancho powder into a saucepan and dowsed it with twice as much water as there was ancho. Then I placed that on a medium heat and allow the ancho's flavor to burst and the sauce to slightly thicken.

Whilst that simmered I chopped, diced and sauteed purple onion (because that's what it is, its hardly red onion!) until it reached the peak of uber yummy caramelized perfection.

So that was the basis for the ancho enchilada, moving on to the salsa verde. Open a jar of Salsa Verde. Seriously, if you can find a delicious brand of salsa verde (we have Herdez) use it! But not all of us are so lucky I will post a salsa verde recipe later.

Continuing on, I began the filling with with one big and beautiful diced clove of garlic and sauteed it briefly. Next, with the addition of some frozen spinach and  salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, placed a lid over the pan and let sit over medium heat until the spinach thawed (and if one would use fresh spinach, until that wilted). Utilizing the scrumptious roast chicken waiting in the fridge, I shredded a few ounces and added it to the pan, turned off the heat and let it sit.

Now if I was intelligent i would have had the oven preheating oven ready but in my case I waited a few minutes....Okay! done waiting, let's continue:

Traditionally to prepare corn tortillas one must dip them in hot oil. This results in a mess of spattered bubbles, wasted oil, burnt fingers, effort, hungry tummies, family feuds and other such troublesome incidents, so instead Rick Bayless showed me (or his tv show introduced this to my mom who showed me and am now showing you) to spray each side of a tortilla with cooking oil. Then by putting them on a cookie sheet in the oven for 5 minutes, one escapes the dramas listed above.

ASSEMBLING:

Finally here we are, that much closer to lunch.

Fill a tortilla with some chicken and spinach mixture, some cheese and love. Set aside.

For the ancho enchilada dip a tortilla in the ancho sauce, fill with onion and cheddar cheese. Set aside.

We use these little ceramic-single-serve-dish-plates to cook our enchiladas in, but if you do not have such an obscure item, a glass baking dish is wonderful. Begin by pouring some of the coordinating sauce to the dish. Place the enchiladas on their sauce top with some more sauce, cheese and a dash of salt.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese it bubbly goodness.

Here's Number One

Today is the day I begin writing to whom ever is reading, a journal who talks back.

Since this is a food blog I thought I would begin with a simple recipe and, because I am hungry and its 8:40 in the morning, why not begin with showing off breakfast.
I adore eggs and being that its summer and farmers markets are everywhere we have been getting farmer's fresh eggs (yummmm!). Omelets are the way to go. Whip the egg with salt and pepper and add what ever your fridge bears, in my case garden fresh pepper and onion.

Does anyone out there share my love off omelets? Share with me you favorite toppings and joys!
Or if you need help to make one of your own please comment I can assist :)