This week was my sister-in-law’s birthday and her favorite dish is Cheese Enchiladas. So, we decided to do a whole fiesta with Pork & Poblaño Stew, Guacamole (which we just picked up from New Seasons), Rhubarb Salsa and Zanahorias en Escabeche – besides the Cheese Enchiladas, of course.
The Pork & Poblaño Stew, I had cooked not too long ago. I only tinkered with it slightly, using pork stock instead of chicken. The Zanahorias en Escabeche was suggested by a friend and I decided to use rainbow carrots and ended up leaving out the onion since the one I had bought had gone bad. I had forgotten where I found the Rhubarb Salsa, but I know I changed it fairly significantly.
My wife ended up doing most of the cooking, since I cut my finger and had go to Urgent Care to get stitches. Luckily, I had pretty much finished all of the prep work at that point and I got back just in time for dinner.
Rhubarb Salsa
1½ cups fresh rhubarb, diced
¼ cup red onion, minced
2 tsp. lime juice
¼ cup finely minced scallions
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
¼ cup of cilantro, chopped
2 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
¼ tsp. kosher salt
⅛ tsp. cayenne
Fill a medium bowl with ice and water; set aside. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the diced rhubarb, blanch for 10 seconds, then scoop out with a slotted spoon into the ice water. Place red onion in medium bowl and drizzle with lime juice. Remove rhubarb from water batch and blot with towel to dry, then transfer to clean medium bowl. Add rhubarb to red onion and toss with scallions, jalapeño and cilantro. Whisk vinegar with honey until combined, add to salsa mixture and season with salt and cayenne. Refrigerate until chilled.
Cheese Enchiladas
24 oz. shredded Mexican cheese blend (Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Queso Quesadilla and Asadero)
1 poblano pepper
1 red bell pepper – core removed and sliced into ¼” rings
1 red onion – peeled and sliced into ¼” rings
1 can of “green” enchilada sauce
1 can of “red” enchilada sauce
1 dozen corn tortillas (preferably still warm from your local tortilleria)
Divide cheese into two bowls: ⅔ of the cheese in a large bowl and the remaining ⅓ in a separate bowl.
Grill the peppers and onions. You want to get grill marks and the red pepper on onions and for the skin to blister on the poblano pepper – about 15 minutes. After removing from grill, put poblano in a bowl and cover with a dish towel for 10 minutes. When cooled, peel off outer skin and remove core and seeds.
Dice grilled peppers and onions, and mix into the larger bowl of cheese.
Take a handful of the cheese and onion/pepper mix and roll inside a tortilla. Place enchiladas into a large Pyrex baking dish. Cover half of the enchiladas with the “green” sauce and half with the “red” sauce. Cover with remaining cheese.
Bake for 20 ~ 25 minutes at 350°.
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The original plan was to get my growler filled on Saturday, but I ended up having to go into work and didn’t have time. So, I pulled a bottle of the Straffe Drieling from Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales from the cellar. With dessert (which was a flan my wife made), I went with a can of the Rum Barrel Aged Cavatica Stout that I picked up at Fort George‘s Festival of the Dark Arts last year.
Jouer avec le feu. 