Mexican Breakfast: Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles (pronounced as if, "chee-lah-key-lays") is a common dish in Mexico, especially for breakfast. It can be made with red sauce or green sauce. I've streamlined the process here "a little," as traditionally, Mexicans have used tortillas and chicken leftover from the day before to make this dish. The tortillas were cut into wedges or pieces and then fried until crisp. Store bought tortilla chips cut down on the time needed. You can find cotija cheese in many supermarkets, cheese shops, or most certainly in Latino shops, but you can easily substitute feta cheese. Further, Mexican Crema is commonly used, but again, if you can't find it, the mixture I've listed is a quick and easy substitute.

30 tortilla chip triangles (white or yellow)
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, red or green, homemade* or store bought
1/2 cup crumbled Mexican cotija cheese or feta cheese
1/4 cup Mexican Crema **

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Put the tortilla chips in the skillet and spread them out. Add the enchilada sauce and bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to low. Let tortilla chips soften slightly, remove from heat. Place on serving dishes and add crumbled cheese, then spoon some Mexican Crema over each serving. Serve with fried egg(s), sliced avocado sprinkled with a little lime juice, shredded chicken or bite sized pieces of chicken, or refried beans. 

* For homemade red enchilada sauce:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-enchilada-sauce.html

** To make a quick "version" of Mexican Crema, 3/4 cup sour cream thinned with 5 tablespoons of buttermilk and with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt stirred in.

Click to enlarge photo... Chilaquiles with chicken and refried beans

WORD HISTORY:
Corral-This word, distantly related to "car," "carriage" and "course," all of Latin derivation, and borrowed by English, goes back to Indo European "kers," which had the notion of "to run, move swiftly." This gave Latin the verb "currere," meaning, "to run," which produced the noun "currus," which meant, "chariot." Hey, when you've got a chariot, you've got to have a place to park it, and that was a Latin "currale," meaning, "an area for keeping a chariot." This gave Spanish and Portuguese "curral/corral," and it later simply meant, "enclosure, usually for cattle." The word was borrowed by English from Spanish in the late 1500s, with "perhaps" later reinforcement from Dutch/Afrikaans "kraal," in southern Africa, a word Dutch borrowed from Portuguese "curral/corral," as both the Portuguese and the Dutch were involved in southern Africa before heavy British involvement there. "Kraal" meant "a fenced in area for animals."      

Mexican Egg Sandwich (Torta)

This is a fried egg sandwich, or "torta," a word that in Spanish often means "cake," but also means "sandwich" in Mexico. Typically, "bolillo" are the rolls used for this sandwich. A bolillo is a type of French bread roll popularized during the heavy French influence in Mexico in the mid 1800s. The sandwich is a fixture in Mexico, but they are also common in the southwestern areas of the U.S., and other areas where people of Mexican background live. If you cannot find bolillos, you can easily substitute sausage rolls or ciabatta rolls. The "torta" can also be made with chorizo. Remember, the word "torta" is a generic word for "sandwich," and there are a variety of "torta" in Mexico, not just with egg. 

Ingredients (per sandwich):

1 fried egg, yolk intact and slightly runny, or yolk broken and mixed in with the egg white
2 tablespoons refried beans
1 or 2 tablespoons red enchilada sauce (store bought or homemade)*
1 bolillo roll, sausage roll or ciabatta roll, split, then toasted
1 or 2 jalapeño or serrano chili slices, for some "heat"
2 slices Monterey Jack cheese or manchego**
1 or 2 avocado slices
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
sliced onion, sliced tomato and extra enchilada sauce, on the side

Spread the refried beans on the bottom of the roll, top with the cheese. Add the egg and top with the chili pepper. Drizzle on the enchilada sauce. Spread the avocado on the top portion of the roll and sprinkle on the chopped cilantro. Press the sandwich together. Serve with sliced onion and tomatoes on the side. If you like enchilada sauce, as I do, put some in a dish for dipping. YES!

* This is the link for my article about enchilada sauce:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-enchilada-sauce.html  

** Manchego is a cheese made from sheep's milk in Spain. It has various classifications according to how long it is aged. Mexican manchego is based on the Spanish cheese, but it is typically made with cow's milk and then aged to a point where it is "similar to" Monterey Jack in taste and texture.  

WORD HISTORY:
Fry-This word goes back to Indo European "bher/pher," which "seems" to have had the notion of "fire, heat;" thus also, "cook or roast." This gave Latin "frigere," meaning, "to fry, to roast," two forms of cooking for which we now have separate terms. This passed to Latin-based Old French as "frire," with the meaning, "to fry." English borrowed the word as "frien" in the latter part of the 1200s. 

Red Enchilada Sauce

"Enchilada" simply means "to season with chili (pepper)." Enchiladas originated in Mexico, but they are quite common elsewhere, especially in some parts of the United States, although they are available throughout the U.S. Enchiladas are quite easy to prepare, but if you're a lazy ass... I mean, if you are too tired from work or other activities, they can also be found in the frozen food sections of supermarkets. Of course, you can always visit Mexican restaurants for their individual versions, as recipes do vary somewhat, including by the filling wrapped in the tortilla, by whether the tortilla is from corn or flour, by the enchilada sauce ingredients, as some recipes use tomato in some fashion in the sauce, while others use only chilies to make the sauce, no tomato. Some sauce is also green, but I'll do that at another time. Also, the cheese topping may vary by type, or may even be a mixture of cheeses. Here is my version of the sauce:

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons ancho chili powder (or other, if you don't have ancho)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper (or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, for hotter)
2/3 teaspoon abobo seasoning salt*
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican, if you have it)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth
1 can tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar (it takes some of the sharpness out of the tomato paste, but you can use more, less or none)

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and add the flour and stir well to form a roux. Add the tomato paste, stirring constantly, until the paste is broken up. (I've found that adding the tomato paste at this point makes it easier to mix in, as it is so thick. You can add the broth first, however, and then mix the tomato paste, but be careful not to leave any "clumps" of tomato paste.) Increase the heat again to medium and gradually add the chicken broth in increments, stirring constantly. As you stir in the broth, let the mixture come back to a simmer each time until the broth is all added and the liquid begins to thicken somewhat. Reduce to a constant light simmer and add the other ingredients, and stir well again to combine. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. The sauce should not be super thick. Pour sauce over whatever type of enchiladas you're making. 

* Adobo seasoning is a type of Puerto Rican/Latino seasoned salt, easily available in supermarkets, although perhaps in the "Hispanic/Latino Foods" section. Ingredients vary somewhat, but generally it includes, at a minimum: salt, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, dried oregano, with ground turmeric being a frequent ingredient. Understand, the term "adobo" means different things in different Latino or Spanish influenced cultures. In Mexico, the term is used for a sauce usually made from a mixture of chili peppers, spices and some liquid component. It is often used as a marinade. If you've bought chipotle peppers in the can, they are usually packed in adobo sauce.

In this case, I made two enchiladas for myself. I like lots of enchilada sauce! 

WORD HISTORY:
Art-This noun goes back to Indo European "ar/aer," which had the notion of "join together, assemble." This gave Italic/Latin the noun "ars," which generally meant "skill," and later the extended meaning, "object produced by skill." The Latin noun, depending upon usage in a sentence, had various inflections (changes), which usually had a "t" included in those changes (inflections). Old French, a Latin based language, inherited a form of the word as "art," which was borrowed into English in the early 1200s, very much with the notion of "object produced by skill," a meaning still carried into modern times.