Monday, October 21, 2013

How to make Crunchy Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles, one of my absolute favorite Mexican dishes around. They are crunchy corn tortilla chips covered in a rich ancho chile sauce and cheese with some scrambled eggs mixed in. It is a wonderful breakfast dish, but since I love them so much, I will eat them on a plane, I will eat them on a train...Sayyy, I will eat them anywhere. I mean anytime!! I feel like I have read that somewhere before...hehehe. And I know, I know that I should be banning cheese from my diet...but I simply have not been able to go that far. This dish is almost gluten free! I came so close, but the Chicken Knorr is what keeps it from being completely gluten free, which I strive to be. So, if you are on a gluten free diet, simply use gluten free bouillon and it will be all good.
Chilaquiles
So above is what the dish looks like. The deep reddish brown sauce is so simple to make and can also be used as a sauce for enchiladas. The recipe I am showing you is how to make them from scratch. There is a quicker way, but I will save that for another day and share with you the most delicious way to make them first...you deserve that right? The best?
 
Okay, so, I am going to include a video tutorial, but it is a mess!!! Lol, I need to learn how to edit. Hey I am learning and I am bringing you poor souls along for the ride....I don't like to be alone!
 
What you are going to need to make this gorgeous and scrumptious dish is:
 
1 package of corn tortillas
2 generous handfuls of cheddar cheese
oil to fry tortillas into chips
 
Sauce:
1 package of ancho chiles
1/2 medium sized onion
2 tomatoes
3 table spoons of Chicken Knorr
1 garlic clove
water
 
Garnish:
Queso fresco
Mexican crema
Cilantro~ optional
avocado~ optional
 
Begin by making the sauce. What you want to do is put a 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a sauté pan and toast your tomatoes, onion, garlic and ancho chiles. You want to take the ancho chiles out of the pan once they become soft and pliable. Once they are soft, remove the stem. Now cut them down the middle and remove and seeds and the veins of the chile. This is where the heat resides, if you like things spicy, leave some of the chiles with the seeds and veins. Remove the onion, tomatoes and garlic when they are soft as well. No more than 5 minutes and be sure that your garlic doesn't burn, as it will become bitter if it does. Now get all the items for the sauce and place in a small stock pot, and add just enough water to cover the chiles, garlic, onion and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Once this is boiled, remove from heat and place the items you boiled into a blender, along with 2 ladles full of the water that you boiled the items in. This water contains all the flavor from the items you just boiled. Once items are in the blender, add 3 full tablespoons of chicken bouillon into the blender. Now blend until liquefied, but be very careful because everything is super hot!!! Your sauce is done.
 
Now you need gather the corn tortillas and cut them into chip sized pieces. Heat your oil and it will be ready when you put a piece of tortilla and it bubbles. When oil is ready, begin frying the chips in batches and place in a tray lined with paper bags or paper towels to absorb excess oils. Fry the entire package of tortillas.
 
Shred your cheddar cheese. I used 2 verrry generous handfuls...I guess that could be 2 cups. But, you can add more or less depending on what you like. Now scramble your eggs. I scrambled 6 eggs.
 
We are ready to mix everything together. In a stock pot, add 1/4 cup of oil and heat, add your sauce. Now once the sauce is boiling, quickly add chips and mix until well coated, add cheddar and the eggs that you scrambled. Add your garnishes and serve immediately. If you like them on the softer side, let them cook a little bit longer once they are coated in the sauce. Serve!
 
So that is my recipe for something I love....and I am sharing it with you. I hope you enjoy it! If you make it, please let me know how you like it!! Thank you for reading!
 
 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

How to make Albondigas


 
ALBONDIGAS~ yummy! Yesterday afternoon, I was able to make some. I was so happy because last week when it was cold and rainy, I got a major craving for albondigas. I thought maybe the craving would pass, but then one of my friends posted that she was making some and my craving went into overdrive...lol. Yesterday I killed the craving! OMG, it was so delicious. Now I am thinking of chilaquiles next...so stay tuned!
 
Would you like to know how to make them? I am pretty certain your family will be a big fan! Get your tomatoes, garlic cloves, half an onion and 1~2 chiles (optional) and toast them in a skillet until the skins are brown and the onion looks a little caramelized. Place that in your blender, add 1 cup of water and blend. empty this "salsa" into a large stock pot. Add one 15 oz can of tomato sauce. Now here is where I don't have exact measurements. I think I have warned you about my weakness in this area before...lol. Okay so now you want to add water add as much as you would like there to be soup. Now it's time to season, add Caldo de Pollo (aka Chicken Knorr) to taste. Now the base of your soup is done. For the albondigas, get ground beef, (I used 80/20) add 1/4 of an onion finely diced, 1/3 cup of rice per LB of ground beef and 1 egg per LB of ground beef. Mix until well incorporated and form meatballs. To keep mine uniform in size, I used my ice cream scoop. Add those to your soup base. Now this is the fun part, add veggies that you love! You are the boss! I used cabbage, zucchini, corn, potatoes and some carrots. Now cook until meatballs are cooked through and veggies are nice and tender.
 
Sorry for not having measurements and all. I will come back and update this the next time I make it, with more precise measurements. Maybe I will do a YouTube video as well.
 
Have a fabulous day and enjoy your soup. Please feel free to tell me how you make them! I know everyone does different variations. I know some people fry them before they put them in the soup...I love to hear new methods!!
 
 
 
 

Everybody in the blender.

Eggs, rice, onion and a little bit of caldo de pollo into the albondigas.

Albondigas the size of an ice cream scoop.

It all adds up to a delicious soup that warms the belly and soul!!!