the colors of cooking

vegetarian enchiladas

until last thursday, i had never made enchiladas in my life.

when i searched my go-to recipe books: The Joy of Cooking and Best New Recipe, and found nothing—i was miffed. when the inquiries to friends and family came up empty, i was intimidated. i just make them. she just makes them. just stuff tortillas and cover them in sauce. 

turns out that i don't start well without instruction.
the vegetarian requirement wasn't helping me out much either.

eventually, i just jumped in. and this is what i came up with:

enchilada sauce (c/o emeril lagasse )

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup chili powder (could easily use less)
• 2 cups chicken (vegetable) stock
• 10 ounces tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

in a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. cook for 1 minute. add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. stir to combine. bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. the sauce will thicken and smooth out. adjust the seasonings. serve atop your favorite enchiladas.
enchilada filling

• 1 med/large onion, chopped
• 1+ cup (frozen) corn
• 1 can black beans, rinsed thoroughly
• 3-4 cups spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 2 cups cheese, shredded (pepper jack, queso fresco, cheddar—any will work)

in saucepan, heat a tablespoon or so of oil. add onion and cook until soft and translucent. toss in frozen corn, stir and cook a bit longer. after a few minutes, add beans. after a few more minutes, add chopped spinach and stir. allow spinach to wilt a little and turn bright green—i like to turn the heat off and cover with a saucepan lid for a few minutes. once the spinach bright and limp, remove pan from heat.

assembly

using a frying pan or oven, heat up corn tortillas until soft enough to mold. fill each tortilla with filling, add some cheese and place in casserole. filling should easily fill 8-10 corn tortillas. cover tortillas with sauce, and additional grated cheese. cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbling with melted cheese. let set for a few minutes before dishing up.

my only notes would be that the sauce was very spicy. it could have easily been made with less chili powder and in the future i might sauté some peppers before getting it going for an additional level of flavor. otherwise, quite delicious. already making plans to cook up and freeze several batches.

success!!!

bread update

this weekend i baked a yes-knead loaf from Rose Levy Bernabaum's Bread Bible.

again, it came out very flat. tasty but very very flat.

what is causing this? is it simply the frigid nature of my house?
or am i doing something wrong?

throughout the process all seemed well, except after each rise when i kneaded, everything got smaller again. i have yet to make a loaf in a bread pan that fills the pan as well as the cookbook predicts.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dark Days—Recaps!

i just completed my first (and only this year) turn at the recaps for the Dark Days Challenge.

in a word? —whew! i'll admit that last night i was a little overwhelmed as i was counting up the thirty or so odd posts that i needed to read, experience and appreciate, in verbal form. but here it is 11am on a tuesday, i started around 7pm monday night and i got a full night of sleep in. even better? it pulled me into the Challenge in a whole new way and got me reading some blogs that i had yet.

more than anything it made me supremely jealous of anyone still able to access a farmer's market this time of year. at the start of the challenge i thought i'd have an advantage with my small agrarian town, and i was extra proud of all the home-grown, home-canned food i had at my disposal.

right now, in the middle of winter, i wouldn't mind being able to hop out and pick up some locally grown kale or better yet, mache. and i would absolutely adore the opportunity to meadering through a bustling farmers market...even if we were all bundled up to our ears.

the only lesson i can take from this at this point is to grow more next year and enjoy it while it lasts. in the meantime, check out my work on the regional recaps for the East and the South.