Onion and Olive Enchiladas
Anaheim and pasilla chiles combine in a puréed sauce for these Cal-Mex—style enchiladas, filled with cotija cheese and black olives. This recipe first appeared in our December 2012 issue along with Georgia Freedman's story California Eternal.
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Credit: Penny De Los Santos
INGREDIENTS
10 dried Anaheim or New Mexican chiles, stemmed6 dried pasilla chiles, stemmed
4 cloves garlic
½ cup olive oil
5 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
10 6" flour tortillas
12 oz. cotija cheese
1 (6-oz.) can large pitted black olives, drained and roughly chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°. Place chiles in a large bowl, and cover with boiling water; let sit until chiles are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving 2½ cups soaking liquid, and then remove stems and seeds from chiles; transfer chiles to a blender along with reserved soaking liquid and garlic; purée until smooth, and set aside.2. Heat 5 tbsp. oil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat; add flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is a light caramel color, about 3 minutes. Add chile purée, vinegar, and oregano, and season with salt. Bring to a boil, and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes; set chile sauce aside. Heat remaining oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
3. To assemble, spread ¼ cup chile sauce in the bottom of a 9" × 13" baking dish. Dip one tortilla at a time into sauce, and then place on a plate; sprinkle with? cup cooked onions, ¼ cup cotija, and 1 tbsp. olives. Roll up tightly, and place in the baking dish, seam-side down; repeat with remaining tortillas, and more sauce, cheese, and olives.
4. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, and sprinkle with remaining cheese and olives; bake until heated through and cheese is just melted, about 40 minutes.
I ended up saving the texture by adding chicken broth, and saving the flavor by adding a can of diced tomatoes, a whole fresh chopped yellow (sweet) onion, and more oregano, plus a some dried basil. Re-pureed and re-heated. Now the flavor is much better balanced and the consistency is good. Technically not vegetarian anymore because of the chicken broth, but oh well. Could have thinned with water or veggie broth I guess, but I'm not a vegetarian, so I prefer the flavor of chicken broth.
It was a lovely article and I will make these enchiladas again, but with the above changes to the sauce.