Chef Wally, also known as John Lopez, and his wife, Kathi recently taught us how to make the Tex-Mex food John grew up eating in Texas. The food was fabulous and the class was a hit! During the class John taught how to make red salsa, jalapeno "Chile Macho" (the name says it all), standard guacamole, rice, beans, cheese enchiladas and BBQ brisket enchiladas. John cooked all of these dishes in Swiss Diamond Nonstick cookware and used his Peppermill Supreme 2000 exclusively for freshly ground black pepper and salt. John Lopez is the author of the cookbook, Texas Barbecue 101 and if you want a signed copy, I am sure that we can get you one!
“Enchiladas de Doris” Cheese Enchiladas
(These are the enchiladas John grew up eating)
12 corn tortillas
1 cup canola oil + ½ cup
1 cup flour
1Tbsp Chili Powder = 1 tsp. Gebhardt’s Chili Powder
1 tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp or less, curry powder (if you can easily taste the curry powder in the sauce, you put too much)
1 Tbsp salt
10-12 cups chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1-1/2 Lb. medium cheddar cheese, grated
¼ Lb. Queso Fresca, crumbled
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Heat 1 cup canola oil in a 3-4 quart sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add flour & stir to make a blond roux. Cook for a couple of minutes to remove “raw” flour taste. Do not brown. Add minced onion and garlic, stir; add chili powder, curry, cumin, and, stir to blend; cook for 1-2 minutes. Do not burn spices.
Add chicken broth, stirring with a whisk to eliminate lumps. Add one half of salt. Stir & cook on low simmer for 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning & add more salt if needed. Cover, remove from heat. Let cool.
Ladle some sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, lasagna pan, casserole, etc. Dish must be large enough to hold 12 enchiladas without crowding.
In an 8 or 9 inch skillet, heat 1/2 cup canola oil. The oil should be hot enough to sear tortillas. Test temp by dipping an edge of tortilla in oil. It should bubble & sizzle.
Dip a tortilla in the oil on both sides just for a couple of seconds. You are trying to “seal” & soften the tortilla. You can use a wood spatula for this. I use my fingers, very carefully dipping the tortilla, ALMOST, all the way in the oil.
SAFETY NOTE: There is a very fine balance between temperature of the oil, just hot enough, but not too hot, and the length of time you dip, and the distance from the hot oil to your fingers. This technique was handed down to me from my mother. For safety reasons, I don’t recommend you try it, but it is interesting to watch.
Let the tortilla drain over the hot oil. You can blot on clean towel or paper towel if you like. I don’t blot. Immediately dip the tortilla into the sauce mixture on both sides. Here again, I use my fingers, but a wood spatula will work fine.
Place the tortilla on a work surface. Place a small amount of cheese and a few pieces of onion on the tortilla. Roll neatly and tightly and place in baking dish. Leave a little room between each enchilada.
Continue until all enchiladas are in baking dish. Cover with sauce. Sprinkle onion & cheddar cheese on top, sprinkle crumbled queso fresco on top. Cover with foil & bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove the foil & bake for 5-10 minutes more until sauce mixture bubbles, then remove from oven, cover with foil & allow to “rest” for 5-10 minutes.
Serve with your favorite sides of rice & beans, plenty of cold beverages. We always top our enchiladas with “Chile Macho”. This is a fresh salsa recipe handed down in my family. My father puts it on EVERYTHING. He is 98 and we all believe he has lived to this age by eating tons of this. Recipe is below.
Chile Macho
(The only condiment John's dad carries with him at all times!)
12 Ripe Jalapenos
12 cloves garlic
Dash of salt
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
A scant few drops of vinegar
When you select your jalapenos at the market, look for ones with a smooth skin, a nice dark green color, and “little light colored lines” running perpendicular the length of the pepper. The lines are an indication of ripeness.
Remove stems from jalapenos and coarsely chop. Smash garlic with blade of knife and remove peel. Place jalapenos and garlic in food processor. Pulse, over & over to chop mixture completely and evenly. DO NOT CONTINUOUSLY PROCESS AS YOU WILL END UP WITH MUSH! Before food processors, my mother used to put ingredients in a sausage grinder and it came out great.
Add lemon juice, salt, & vinegar. Mix well and allow to set up for at least a couple of hours. If it looks too dry add a little bit of water. Keeps in the fridge for a week.
(Note to non-Texans: OK, this can be very hot. There are those folks who add a tomatillo or two or even a tomato or two. Removing the seeds and stems from the peppers takes away the heat. I don’t recommend it but there are those that do that.)
Mexican Rice
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Cup long grain white rice
2 Cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup onion, minced
1 tsp Gebhardt’s chili powder
½ tsp cumin
Dash curry powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp Mexican oregano
Add oil to a saute pan or covered casserole pan, add rice & cook, stirring until lightly toasted, add onion and garlic, cook, stirring another 1-2 minutes. Do not burn garlic. Add salt and spices, stir to blend & cook for 1 minute. Add broth, stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low simmer. Taste broth to test seasoning. Add salt if needed. Cook for 20 minutes. Let rest 10-20 minutes. Serve.
Roasted Salsa Rojo
1 onion, peeled & cut in half
4 large jalapenos
4-6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2-4 tomatoes
8-20 hot dried red chiles like chile Japon
1-1/2 cups water, hot, not boiling
Dash of vinegar
Juice of I lemon
½ tsp. Mexican Oregano, crumbled
1 tsp. salt
1-2 cans (15 Oz.) of tomatoes (roasted if you can find them)
Place jalapenos, onion, garlic, and red chilies in fry pan. Toast a few minutes then remove red chilies to hot water in a small saucepan to reconstitute. Continue toasting until all vegetables are charred a bit. You may need to remove garlic first to prevent from burning. Peel garlic. Chop all other vegetables rough chop. Place in food processor.
(When red chilies are reconstituted, about 20 minutes, drain and add to food processor. Reserve water as you may wish to thin salsa with it.)
Add salt and Oregano. Pulse until mixture is processed evenly. Do not puree.
Add tomatoes, pulse to process evenly.
Add lemon & vinegar, pulse to blend.
Taste & add salt if needed.
Wally Guacamole´
4 Haas avocados, halved peeled and seeded
1 clove garlic, pressed with a garlic press
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Optional:
1/3 cup onion, diced
1/3 cup diced tomato
2 green onions, thinly chopped
Cilantro leaves for garnish
Place avocados in a mixing bowl. Using a small knife, chop the avocados into roughly ½ inch chunks. Add garlic, lemon juice, and ¼ tsp salt.
Using a kitchen fork, blend the ingredients, mashing a bit, in the process. You do not want a puree or paste; you want this to be chunky.
Garnish if you like. You can mix any of the optional ingredients, if desired, when mashing.
