“Trust me, I’m a chef.”

Don’t worry — the quotes around the title denote that that sentiment is not ours. We like to cook for sure, but we are far from even considering calling ourselves chefs.  But not as much can be said for the random guy at the supermarket who said that to us, thick with condescension and disdain. We can only surmise that his attitude stemmed from being just famous enough to think he should be known, but not famous enough for us to actually know him.  But who knows.  We tried googling images of NYC area chefs, but couldn’t find any with his likeness.  So while the jury is still out on his fame, we decided that he PROBABLY really is a chef, but CERTAINLY is a jerk.

This is how it happened…

We found an enchilada recipe — and were excited that it 1) looked delicious and 2) was easily adaptable for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.  The recipe demanded a number of ingredients we have never cooked with before, but the process seemed easy enough, so we set off for Fairway.

The good thing about Fairway is that it has every option under the sun.  The bad thing about Fairway is that it is all very poorly labeled.  We went in to buy Poblano Peppers, and although it was clearly labeled to be included somewhere among the twenty pepper varieties, we had no idea which ones, specifically, were Poblanos.  Problem.

Solution? The kindness and knowledge of a store clerk.  Second problem: we also needed New Mexican Chiles, said store clerk was nowhere to be found, and it wasn’t even listed as being one of the ones they carried. So much for having EVERYTHING under the sun.

Solution?  Ask the random man standing next to us who was confidently navigating the wall of peppers, what he would recommend as a replacement.

Us: Do you know anything about hot peppers?

Random Man (sarcastically and, if memory serves, with even a bit of a sneer): Uhhh… yeah.  A little.

Us (ignoring said sneer and pushing through with as much positivity as we could muster): Great!  We’re trying to make enchiladas, what should we use?

RM: Poblanos.

Us: Oh, ok.  Well, we got those for another part of our recipe — we’re trying to find a replacement for New Mexican Chiles.

RM (emphatically): Use poblanos, TRUST ME.

Us: Oh… uhh… ok. Great.  Thanks!

RM: No really, trust me.  I’m. A. Chef.

So we did.  And although we walked away with only our poblanos feeling a bit bullied, it worked out — but mostly because we decided to ask another clerk (once our chef friend was out of earshot) if they had New Mexican chiles and he pointed us to a surprisingly well-labeled row filled with chiles, including New Mexican ones.  We still used Poblanos for the innards as the recipe called for.

The original recipe was found on Vegetarian Times, but it needed some significant tweaking.  Our tweaked recipe is below.  I guess you don’t have to trust us since we’re not chefs, but we did quite love it.

 

Enchiladas Four Ways

(Serves 4 as an entree)

 

The Sauce

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 small onion

1 tbsp olive oil

1 heaping tbsp garlic

1.5 oz New Mexican Dried Chilis

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

 

The Vegetarian Innards

1 1/2 cups queso fresco

1 cup extra sharp cheddar

6 poblanos

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tbsp garlic

 

The Meat-Eating Innards

1 lb chicken breast

pinch of chili powder

1 cup chicken broth

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp adobo

2 pinches of salt

4 tbsp butter

 

Start by making the sauce because it has to cook down for a while.  Do not be fooled by the original recipe.

Chop the onions and sautee until they begin to soften.  Press the garlic and add to the onions.  Then add the New Mexican chiles and sautee for another 3 or 4 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes, add two cups of water, add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for about 25 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Once the sauce has cooled then puree it in a blender. Return to the stove, add the chili powder, paprika, and cayenne and simmer for about an hour.

Now make the innards.

We made four kinds:

1. cheese

2. spicy cheese

3. pulled chicken and cheese

4. spicy pulled chicken and cheese

 

Start with the pulled chicken.  Heat up the olive oil in a pan that has a cover.  Add the whole chicken breasts, the adobo, salt and pepper, chili powder, and broth.  Cover and let simmer for about 25 minutes.

Once the chicken has simmered it should pull apart pretty easily.  Shred it.  We did this by using two forks and just pulled it apart.

Then sautee and brown the shredded chicken in the butter.  Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. Newer posts will have photos.

Grate the queso fresco and the cheddar.  Prepare yourselves for the Poblano.

First, put on a pair of gloves.  We wish we had.  Our hands burned for a good 6 hours.

Slice the poblanos into quarters.  Remove the seeds.  Lay face down on a cookie sheet and broil for about 12 minutes.  Once the skin is good and black remove from the broiler, cover with a cloth dish towel and let cool.

Wear your gloves!  Peel off the skin, slice into strips 1 inch long and 1/4 inch wide.  Slice garlic into thin slivers and chop a small onion.  Sautee poblanos, with the onions and garlic and remove from heat.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. Newer posts will have photos.

Lay out 12 six-inch corn tortillas.  Each corn tortilla should have both cheddar and queso fresco in it.  Then add the peppers and the chicken to your liking.  Roll them up.

Cover the bottom of a 9×13″ pyrex with the enchilada sauce.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. Newer posts will have photos.

Lay the rolled up enchiladas in (of course separating into two pyrexes if this dinner is serving both vegetarians and meat-eaters).  Top the enchiladas with more cheese and add sauce to the tops and the gaps between the enchilada rolls.

2 photos lost when the old site was hacked. Newer posts will have photos.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Serve hot.

We have decided that this is the perfect dinner-party dish.  It means only making one entree and satisfying vegetarians, meat-eaters, fans of spice and those with more mild-mannered tastes alike.  Moreover, if they are already in the oven when the guests arrive then the only work needed to be done before eating is serving it onto plates!  We accompanied this with our Spanish Rice and Beans and our guest had seconds.  We are confident you will too.