tiny stacked enchilada

tiny stacked enchilada: food :: cat videos: real life

I'm too old for a midnight snack. People in their thirties can't just get wasted, pound some whataburger at 3am, wake up on a half eaten taquito for a pillow & it's wrapper for a blankey & then expect to function. We'd wake up with the taste of shame for an enemy & heartburn for a best friend. Besides, we've got having a job & not being a red nosed drunk to think about.

I do however enjoy making things on a whim super late at night, right before bed (ok fine. at 10:30). And then not eating them until lunch the next day on account of the heartburn. This is one of those. It's also enchiladas, which as I discussed before, I don't really like. Why are you making something you don't like, you ask? Get your own blog dingleberry. I had boredom, I had an idea…

This is a miniature, single serving take on New Mexico style (stacked, although sans fried egg on top) enchiladas. They're shaped like Texas, because lets face it, the shape of Texas is waaaaay cooler than the shape of new New Mexico* & because I have a Texas shaped cookie cutter from Sur la Table (fuck off).

You could also make this as a regular casserole. It's like enchilada lasagna. Just don't cut the tortillas to resemble New Mexico or everybody will think you're an asshole.

tiny stacked enchilada
(or make it regular size and invent a shrinking gun)

here goes:
2 corn tortillas
shredded cheddar jack cheese
canned enchilada sauce (look for chilies as the first ingredient)
leftover meat, i used carnitas (sub additoonal cheese if desired)

Preheat oven to 400

empty enchilada sauce into a bowl.

cut your tortillas with cookie cutter to get 6 little texas tortillas.

spread a spoonful of enchilada sauce onto the bottom of your cooking vessel.

you're going to dip each piece of tortilla into the sauce, covering it in sauce, and then layer: saucy tortilla, cheese, saucy tortilla, meat, saucy tortilla, cheese. repeat. top with extra cheese and sauce as desired.

bake about 10-15 minutes. everything here is already cooked, so you're just getting it warm & melting the cheese.

I garnished with cotija, cilantro, a grilled chili slice & additional enchilada sauce. Plus some of this addictive-ass green hot sauce that I horde when I go to the greatest taqueria on the planet. Then I froze the unused enchilada sauce.

You're showing me something, stacked enchilada. I still think your cousin, regular enchilada, is a grody tramp though. You must be adopted.

martha stewart taught me this when we were in prison together

*I've got mad love for you New Mexico, but your shape looks like fat square Alabama or upside down Utah. In fact, let's all take a second to laugh at the shape of New Mexico. There, I feel better.

loaded sweet potato

Sweet potatoes, I'm learning, are a bit of an acquired taste. Maybe it's that a lot of people's exposure to sweet potatoes started with that marshmallow topped casserole from the thanksgivings of our youth. And that was it, until scientists discovered sweet potato fries 7 or 8 years ago and then big sweet potato started pushing them on restaurants.*

If you went to someone's house and they served that godawful awful slop any day but thanksgiving, you would assume that aliens had come down and inhabited the bodies of your friends. That would be the one element that tipped you off. Something's not right here. No human would do that. Then you'd have to act like you didn't know that they were aliens & eventually you'd blow one of them up. I don't envy you.

you won't always be this awkward and unattractive, sweet potato

But sweet potatoes, turns out, are pretty versatile. Blah blah blah. If you hate sweet potatoes, you will hate this recipe. I'm not gonna proselytize you on sweet potatoes. Run along. Play some Sega Genesis. If you don't hate sweet potatoes...yeah. You can use 'em a lot like potatoes. As fries, scalloped, in soups, (although they won't do this) etc*. And baked, which is what this is.

Whoever came up with the loaded baked potato, I'd like to shake his or her hand. And then travel back in time and steal the idea from them. Its just... I can't think of a way to improve on it. They got it right. And you can similarly load up a sweet potato. Obviously they're different than potatoes, so you want to consider that in how you treat them. A baked sweet potato's texture leaves something to be desired. Unlike a baked russet potato, which is...you know what it's like, a baked sweet potato is mushy and stringy, collapsing a little when relieved of some of it's moisture. It needs help. It needs a culinary tit-job. Mixing greek yogurt together with the sweet potato flesh gives it some body, a more pleasing texture and a tartness that compliments the sweet potato's, wait for it, sweetness. It's really a loaded twice baked sweet potato, but no one's gonna read a recipe with a title longer than a tweet.

Note: This is a full meal. Choose sweet potatoes that are roughly the same volume as a potato you'd eat all of. also, you could certainly go the route of the traditional loaded baked potato-- chives, bacon, butter, sour cream, cheese--but barbecued pork, leftover chili (which is what i did) or just cheese and bacon** work better for this.

loaded sweet potato
(makes 1 loaded sweet potato or just a baked sweet potato if you unload it)


1 sweet potato
greek yogurt, 2-3 tbsp
something to top it with

preheat oven to 425.

poke a few holes in the sweet potato with a fork so it doesn't explode in the oven. or, if you want it to explode, don't.

bake for an hour. check it. it should be a bit mushy and the flesh should be separating from the skin at the top. if its not ready, put it back in & check it every 10  minutes until it's done.

split the sweet potato open & pull the skin back slightly. dollop on the yogurt & carefully mix flesh and yogurt together, fluffing it a bit.

top with chili, bbq, cheese, a whole rotisserie chicken...whatever you have leftover. you can do everything ahead up to this point.

pop back into hot oven (350 is always safe for reheating) and reheat until completely warmed through & cheese, if you used it, is melted on top.

i bet i looked like an ass trying to get this shot

*not that i'm complaining, i love sweet potato fries especially from these two (a & b) greenville ave joints.
*you can make chips with either tuber using the microwave. i find this method is kinda difficult and time consuming-- you have to break it into so many batches-- but when they don't burn (oh and they go from done to burnt in a second), they turn out pretty good.
**much like a regular twice baked potato. use a mild cheese with sweet potatoes.

cottage pie with grits

I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to call this. Most people would simply call it a play on shepherd's pie. But I, like any self respecting know-it-all, can't simply stand by and let that happen. You go out to most pubs and order shepherd's pie (like this one) and it's made with beef. That's a cottage pie dude. I'm no rube*. Shepherd's pie is made with lamb. I don't know any shepherds who herd cattle.** Although I do know a few sadistic cattle barons who brand sheep on opposite day.

That said, all the (self) righteous indignation in the world isn't gonna stop people from calling  a cottage pie a shepherd's pie. So be it. I bet if I ask these guys, they'd say either is OK. And I trust them. ***

In any event, the shepherd's pie/cottage pie model is a great one for incorporating leftovers, on-hand stuff or minimal-effort ingredients into a new dish. It's kinda like a casserole. Think about it-- layer some shit together and heat it up. Sounds like a casserole. This dish is unique in that I've substituted grits for mashed potatoes. Which is, pardon my french, la merde putain. The stew is a leftover chili spiced beef stew with chickpeas. More of a quick jaunt than a departure from the usual meat filling of beef or lamb, carrots, peas & gravy. What you get is a cottage pie that evokes other dishes****, but is still clearly a cottage pie. And it works. The beauty of the cottage pie setup, just like blues music, lies in the simplicity of its structure-- a basic frame allowing for nearly endless variation within, but still identifiable by that frame.

I ate the hell out of this dish.

dude, it was freezing in there

note- you'll need a ramekin to make a single serving, but of course you could double or triple it or whatever, depending on your leftover sitch.


cottage pie with grits

(serves, well just ask yourself how hungry you are)

what it'll take:
3/4-1 cup frozen ('course it doesn't have to be frozen) leftover beef stew of some sort. chili would work. i don't wanna condone using campbell's chunky, but im sure it'd work
1/2 tsp horseraddish
3tbsp quick grits
an egg
1/4 cup or so cheddar jack cheese

ok, grits you get a caption too

salt

while you thaw out your stew (i had a mild chili based beef stew with tendor chunks of beef and chickpeas, some fresh poblano. went a little overboard on the chickpeas, as you may be able to see. but i like chickpeas, so thats cool) preheat oven to 400.

stir horseraddish into stew and add a little (tbsp or two) water or beef stock. it needs to look slightly too soupy. a lot of mousture is lost in the form of steam and you dont want it to dry out.

prepare the grits as for one serving on the label. 3 tbsp grits, 1 cup water. 4 minutes in the microwave.

beat in egg and stir in the cheese, reserving 1/3 to sprinkle on top. ladle on top of the stew.

not campbell's. not at all

top with remaining cheese and bake for about 35 minutes. top should be set, puffy and getting some color.

The stew part gets really hot, so after admiring that crust, crack that mother open a little and let some steam escape. I didn't add enough cheese on top--I wanted a browner crust. You could hit the top with olive oil spray to help with that. A sprinkling of rosemary in the stew would've been nice. A golden bidet that grants wishes would be nice too, but you can't have it all. All said, a really good dish, where trying something different with an established favorite doesn't frankenstein it up too bad.




*hayseed? maybe. greenhorn? sure. aficionado of fine youtube clips? absolutely. but not a rube.
**i dont know shepherds at all, although i did once say on live radio that i worked as a shepherd. i did not win the steely dan tickets btw.
***i trust them because their show is awesomely nerdy & that's just a trustworthy trait
****chili & cornbread comes immediately to mind

get outta my dreams, get into my gullet

leftovers

Looking for a way to keep your family or lover from starving? Try this recipe. Works great for any leftovers from your fridge or freezer.

Leftovers
(Serves...well, the number isn't important. It's the need to not die that counts.)

what you'll need:

leftovers (ex: uneaten portion of meatloaf from a previous meal)
something to heat it up with (ex: a microwave)
a "can do" attitude

decide what you want to eat.

take it out of the freezer or fridge.

heat that shit up.

eat.

fucking do something with your life.

pizza

So yeah. Pizza. The basic recipe for pizza dough--the pizza equation--is simple. 2-ish cups of flour to a cup of water, yeast to make the dough rise, sugar if you don't use instant yeast &/or to aid browning, olive oil to make it stretchier (or "supple" if you like to make food sound sexual, you pervert). Salt. I'll get into pizza dough stuff (like, you know, how to make it) some other time. One of the many great things about making pizzas at home is that you can make a batch of dough months ahead (3-4 thin pies following the pizza equation) when you're not too busy keeping up with the kardashians, freeze it and then use it when you run out of ideas. It'll be thawed by the time the oven is ready. Plus, people are easily impressed by homemade 'za. They're looking at it going, "oh shit, I bet they worked hard on that. Why am I not as cool as this person?" Your friends are so dumb. They have no idea.

Now, if you don't have the stones to make your own dough, you can just buy (a mediocre) one at a supermarket, but look for specialty markets or pizza joints around you that may offer better dough (if you're near east dallas, buy it here. Get me some sausage while you're there. And a sandwich). You also kinda sorta want to have a pizza peel & a baking stone* or unglazed construction tile. Actually, if you have all that shit, you probably don't need to be told how to do this, but whatever. And come to think of it, this isn't really a recipe. It's assembly. But I already took the pictures sooo....

Everything here is leftover. I made this pie with dough that had been frozen for a few months (3-4). I think there was some whole wheat flour in there. This is the concept I follow when making pizza dough. I've found that, as the article suggests, using the food processor works the dough really thoroughly, which means you have to do less kneading and you can spend more time stalking your exes on facebook. Sensational!

pizza
(serves one fatty or two not very hungry people**)


ingredients:

ball of dough
sauce(s)
cheese(s)
toppings
cornmeal
basil for garnish
(no shit)

preheat oven to 500, with baking stone on bottom rack. if you don't have one, use an upside down cast iron skillet. let it heat up for at least 45 minutes.

flatten and stretch out dough ball by hand, gently stretching in a circle until its nearly 12". cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

flatten dough into thin circle with rolling pin, leaving outer rim thicker for puffier crust if desired.

sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel. transfer dough to pizza peel. with a fork, gently poke holes in the top of the dough where the sauce and toppings will be. careful not to pierce the bottom of the dough.

top with sauce (i used a cilantro pesto & roasted pepper puree-- careful not to overdo the sauce. a little goes longer than you think), toppings (dried shiitakes and leftover carnitas) & cheese (crumbled feta & shredded mozzarella). give the pizza peel a little shake-- you want the pie to be able to slide (that's what the cornmeal's for) onto the baking stone. if it doesn't want to slide, you can take a flipper, gently lift up the sides of the pie & sprinkle in some more cornmeal underneath it. if you have to resort to that (it happens), be careful not to dump cornmeal all over the bottom of your oven. unless you love the comforting smell of burnt cornmeal wafting through your tiny apartment...


cheese cooks fast, so you might want to experiment with adding the cheese last, after the pie has been in the oven a few minutes.

bake about 12 minutes, checking after about 8. what? ovens vary. don't judge me.

pull from oven. top with basil, parm &, if desired, brush the outer crust with olive oil (helps give it a nice deep color) or, if you're into it, truffle oil.

*You could substitute a wooden cutting board for the pizza peel and an upside down cast iron skillet for the baking stone if you're too cheap to get the real stuff.
** Two people my ass. I ate the whole goddamn thing, I'm not gonna lie. In one standing. I cut it up & then I was walking around thinking "this pizza doesn't look that great. (chomp) Pretty good though. (chomp) I'm only (chomp) going(chomp) to eat half & then have the rest tomorro.... Oh. Shit. I ate it all."