Red Chile Enchiladas

[NOTES: Rick Bayless uses ancho chiles, guajillo chiles, black peppercorns and poultry broth in his red chile sauce for enchiladas. He uses the poultry broth to thin out the sauce to the consistency of a light tomato sauce. He says that New Mexico chiles have a bland, red-chile flavor, and that ancho chiles taste reminiscent of milk chocolate and create a red/brown sauce. Next time, I'd like to use half New Mexico and half Ancho chiles + black pepper + a spicy little chile + possibly more water or white wine to thin out the sauce.]

Ever since I finished my Legal Aid externship in East Harlem, I've missed the El Paso Taqueria enchiladas with red chile sauce. Since then, I've had far too many red enchiladas with tomato-based sauce. I never thought to blame the tomatoes until I found this red chile enchiladas recipe in Saveur (June 2009), from a family in Las Cruces, near El Paso. The sauce is simple and exactly what I've been looking for.

We headed to Las Palma and Casa Lucas Market for fresh tortillas and lots of chile peppers.

Tonight, I just made 9 enchiladas, but after realizing what a pain it is to deal with the food processor for so little sauce, I've decided to scale up the recipe so I can freeze the sauce.

Sauce for 24 - 27 enchiladas (8 - 9 portions):
40 dried New Mexico and/or Ancho chiles
optional: add 1 - 2 small hot chiles with seeds
20 cloves garlic, roughly sliced
4 limes, juiced
2 tBsp ground cumin
4 tsp demerara sugar

Remove chile stems and deseed them. Roughly chop them. (Try pulsing them in the spice grinder next.)

Soak them in 4 cups of boiling hot water for 20+ minutes.

Saute garlic in dutch oven for 2 minutes in grapeseed oil.

Pour chiles and soaking water into a food processor. Add sauteed garlic, lime juice and cumin. Pulse until smooth.

Strain through spider sieve (not mesh sieve) to remove solids.

Put chile sauce in dutch oven. Heat sauce over medium heat for a few minutes, then turn off heat.


Building the enchiladas:
corn tortillas (3 per person)
optional: shredded, cooked chicken
grated mozzarella
grated sharp cheddar
1 chopped red onion (note that onions will taste raw if not precooked)
cotija cheese, crumbled
sour cream or crema

Fry each tortilla in grapeseed oil until crispy - about 15 to 20 seconds. Drain each one and stack them on a plate.

Preheat oven to 450F.

Place enchilada on a baking sheet.
Coat one side with sauce using a spoon.
Add onion, cheese and (optional) chicken.
Wrap up, folded side down.

Bake for 5 minutes.

Plate 3 per person. Top with crumbled cotija cheese and sour cream.
Serve immediately with raw cabbage salad and plaintain chips.