Cookbook 106: Mexican: Authentic recipes from south of the border

So when it was my birthday, and there was a cookbook sale, and I indulged (because birthday), I was very excited to see Mexican: Authentic recipes from south of the border by the Australian Women’s Weekly, because my previous Mexican cookbook left me uninspired and wanting a book that was far better.  The AWW does great cookbooks, triple tests the recipes and so I knew that provided I could get the ingredients required, this book would be awesome.

I wasn’t disappointed, the food was amazing.  The menu I chose was rather ambitious, but we pulled it off perfectly (pretty much everything ready at the same time), but I didn’t cook a desert.  You’ll see why, we had a lot of food.  I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.  I’d give it more stars, but I know that some of these ingredients are hard to find.  I do recommend buying this if you do have access to Mexican cooking ingredients though.

Chicken enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 3 chipotle chillies
• 1 cup boiling water
• 500g chicken breast fillets
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 800g canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheddar cheese
• 10 x 15cm flour tortillas

Method:

1. Cover chillies with the boiling water in small heatproof bowl; stand 20 minutes.  Discard stems from chillies.  Blend or process chillies with soaking liquid until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, place chicken in a medium saucepan of boiling water; return to the boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Remove chicken from poaching liquid; cool 10 minutes.  Discard poaching liquid; shred chicken finely.
3. Preheat oven to 180C.  Oil shallow rectangular 3 litre ovenproof dish.
4. Heat oil in a large frying pan; cook onion, stirring, until softened.  Reserve half of the onion in a small bowl.
5. Add garlic and cumin to remaining onion in pan; cook, stirring, until fragrant.  Add chilli mixture, tomato paste, undrained tomatoes and oregano; bring to the boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 1 minutes.  Remove sauce from heat.  Season to taste.
6. Meanwhile, combine shredded chicken, reserved onion, half the sour cream and a third of the cheese in medium bowl.
7. Heat tortillas according to instructions on packet.  Dip tortillas, one at a time, in tomato sauce in pan, plan on board.  Place 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture along edge of each tortilla; roll enchiladas to enclose filling.
8. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce into the dish.  Place enchiladas, seam-side down, in dish (they should fit snugly, without overcrowding). Pour remaining tomato sauce over enchiladas; sprinkle with remaining cheese.
9. Cook enchiladas, in oven, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until cheese melts and enchiladas are heated through. Serve with remaining sour cream.

Notes on this recipe:

• We ended up using chipotle chillies in adobe sauce, because we couldn’t get (easily) any dried and smoked japaleno chillies (also known as chipotle chillies).  This added extra tasty flavour, so I recommend doing it anyway.
• This was so tasty we want to make it again, even though it is a bit fiddly.

Corn and goat’s cheese quesadillas

Ingredients:

• 2 corn cobs (trimmed)
• 240g soft goat’s cheese
• 8 x 20cm flour tortillas
• 1/2 cup drained char-grilled red capsicum, sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons pickled sliced jalapeno chillies, drained
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander
• 20g butter
• 40g baby spinach leaves
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method:

1. Cook corn on heated oiled grilled plate (or grill or barbecue) until browned lightly and tender; when cool enough to handle, cut kernels from cobs.
2. Spread cheese over tortillas. Top 4 of the tortillas with corn, capsicum, chilli, and coriander, season; top with remaining tortillas.  Press around edges firmly to seal quesadillas.
3. Melt butter in medium frying pan; cook quesadillas, one at a time, until browned both sides and heated through.
4. Serve quesadillas with spinach and lime wedges.

Notes on this recipe:

• I did these without capsicum because my house-mate is allergic to them, and with a different type of spreadable cheese because I couldn’t find goats cheese (at least without truffle oil) at my supermarket.  They would have benefited from the goats cheese, and probably a substitution of caramelised onion for the capsicum, but they were still very tasty.

Mushroom crepes with coriander sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plain flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup coarsely grated cheddar cheese

Mushroom filling

• 20g butter
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium brown onion, chopped finely
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 fresh long chilli, chopped finely
• 500g button mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1/4 finely chopped fresh coriander

Coriander sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, chopped finely
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup pouring cream
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Whisk eggs, salt, flour, milk and oil in a medium bowl until smooth.  Cover; stand 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile make mushroom filling (below)
3. Heat oiled heavy based crepe pan or small frying pan; pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan, tilting pan to coat base.  Cook, over low heat, until browned lightly, loosening edge of crepe with spatula. Turn crepe; brown other side.  Remove crepe from pan; cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter to make a total of 12 (ish) crepes.
4. Preheat oven to 180C.
5. Placed heaped tablespoons of filling along centre of each crepe, roll crepes to enclose filling.  Place crepes in a single layer, in oiled shallow baking dish; top with cheese.
6. Bake crepes about 15 minutes or until filling is hot and cheese is browned lightly.
7. Meanwhile, make coriander sauce.
8. Serve crepes with sauce

Mushroom filling

1. Heat butter and oil in large frying pan; cook onion, garlic and chilli, stirring, until onion softens.  Add mushrooms; cook, stirring, about 15 minutes or until mushrooms are soft and water has evaporated.  Cool slightly; stir in coriander, season to taste.

Coriander sauce

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan; cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion softens.  Add cream; simmer, uncovered; about 10 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, coriander and cheese.  Season to taste.

Notes on this recipe:

• I didn’t eat this dish because I don’t like mushrooms.  Those who do like mushrooms said it was awesome.  The sauce, I did have on the quesadillas, and the sauce is really really nice.