some days are all about Americana. The Fourth of July. Thanksgiving. Those traditional days where you remember what it was like as a kid, where things may or may not have looked like a Norman Rockwell painting but you sure thought they did. As the traditional "holiday" season begins here in November, things seem to speed up. The end of the year is just two months away. It brings up all sorts of hurry and rushing and pushing for the right gift, the right event, the right party, the right partner.
Everyone has their own memories and traditions, their own versions of Americana. Somehow, it usually seems to involve some idealized 1950s version of a happy home and the perfect roast turkey...or at least some attempt at creating that. But, it's just not that easy. Families squabble. Silences erupt at all the wrong times. The dog eats the turkey. Your cousin refuses to eat the turkey...it's entirely the story of the American dream.
Except, the American dream comes directly from people who weren't born here, or whose parents, grandparents, or ancestors traveled here for just that dream. I am always fascinated by the immigrant story, because we are all immigrants here. It's what kills me about people who are terribly concerned with people who aren't "real" Americans. Either anyone here who chooses to be is a real American or no one is. and, sometimes, the most American of things are things that have been rooted in something else and adapted, bastardized, made a bit more homogenized.
I have a terrible time when my non-American friends ask me to cook them a traditional "American" meal. I know of nothing we still eat that is really an American meal, that does not have roots in the myriad cultures that have shaped the American experience. We have taken pizza, spaghetti, tacos, pommes frites, myriad Chinese dishes, and many others, taken them, changed them, and added them to the repertoire of even the most anti-immigrant American cooks.
Some days cry out for bubbling cheesy goodness. It's really one of the most American things I can think of, right up to the point that I remember that bubbling cheese is also really a Swiss tradition. ah, well, such is life. Currently, one of my favorite bits of cheesy goodness also works great as a leftover pit as well as a testament to the American tradition of adapting the food of our more recent immigrants. Enchiladas involve spicy goodness, a hot oven, bubbly & crispy cheese, and a snazzy way to use already cooked meat.
Enchiladas (recipe for a red sauce and actual enchiladas)
First, you'll need to make a batch of salsa roja. This makes about six cups, which is more than you will need for one family-sized batched of enchiladas. The best idea is to make the sauce, then freeze the extra. Then, you'll have just enough waiting for you to throw everything else together.
Salsa Roja (only barely adapted from The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors)
4 ounces (weight) dried red chiles
3 cups hot water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4tablespoons flour
2 tomatoes, diced
1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, then soak (covered) in the hot water for an hour. Then blend and set to the side. Saute the onion, adding the cumin and flour when it has begun to caramelize. Continue to saute for another five or six minutes. Add the blended chiles, chicken stock, and vinegar. Cook for another five to ten minutes, remove from the heat and blend. You can use an immersion blender or stand blender for this. You'll need about a cup of this sauce for one batch of enchiladas.
To freeze, either place all the sauce on a sprayed cookie sheet and freeze, then break into chunks and separate, OR place 1 cup servings into individual small plastic containers and freeze.
Enchilada Filling
onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
shredded or chopped cooked meat (chicken, beef, or pork)
salsa, homemade or from a jar
saute the onion and pepper in a bit of oil, adding the meat, then salsa. Y0u may need to also add some water to add moisture to the already cooked meat. Cook for five to ten minutes until the filling is hot. Sometimes, a bit of corn is a delicious addition.
For the enchiladas, mix enough filling for two enchiladas (about two tablespoons per enchilada) per person. Use smaller corn tortillas, lightly heating them in a skillet just before you fill the tortilla. Add a bit of cheese, rolling the enchilada, and placing it in a sprayed casserole dish. Fill the dish, spreading the salsa roja across the top. Add a bit of water, then cover everything with cheese. Bake at 415 degrees until the cheese has bubbled and crisped across the top. Allow five or ten minutes of cooling time before serving.
"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Kellior
Everyone has their own memories and traditions, their own versions of Americana. Somehow, it usually seems to involve some idealized 1950s version of a happy home and the perfect roast turkey...or at least some attempt at creating that. But, it's just not that easy. Families squabble. Silences erupt at all the wrong times. The dog eats the turkey. Your cousin refuses to eat the turkey...it's entirely the story of the American dream.
I have a terrible time when my non-American friends ask me to cook them a traditional "American" meal. I know of nothing we still eat that is really an American meal, that does not have roots in the myriad cultures that have shaped the American experience. We have taken pizza, spaghetti, tacos, pommes frites, myriad Chinese dishes, and many others, taken them, changed them, and added them to the repertoire of even the most anti-immigrant American cooks.
Some days cry out for bubbling cheesy goodness. It's really one of the most American things I can think of, right up to the point that I remember that bubbling cheese is also really a Swiss tradition. ah, well, such is life. Currently, one of my favorite bits of cheesy goodness also works great as a leftover pit as well as a testament to the American tradition of adapting the food of our more recent immigrants. Enchiladas involve spicy goodness, a hot oven, bubbly & crispy cheese, and a snazzy way to use already cooked meat.
First, you'll need to make a batch of salsa roja. This makes about six cups, which is more than you will need for one family-sized batched of enchiladas. The best idea is to make the sauce, then freeze the extra. Then, you'll have just enough waiting for you to throw everything else together.
Salsa Roja (only barely adapted from The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors)
4 ounces (weight) dried red chiles
3 cups hot water
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4tablespoons flour
2 tomatoes, diced
1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, then soak (covered) in the hot water for an hour. Then blend and set to the side. Saute the onion, adding the cumin and flour when it has begun to caramelize. Continue to saute for another five or six minutes. Add the blended chiles, chicken stock, and vinegar. Cook for another five to ten minutes, remove from the heat and blend. You can use an immersion blender or stand blender for this. You'll need about a cup of this sauce for one batch of enchiladas.
To freeze, either place all the sauce on a sprayed cookie sheet and freeze, then break into chunks and separate, OR place 1 cup servings into individual small plastic containers and freeze.
Enchilada Filling
onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
shredded or chopped cooked meat (chicken, beef, or pork)
salsa, homemade or from a jar
saute the onion and pepper in a bit of oil, adding the meat, then salsa. Y0u may need to also add some water to add moisture to the already cooked meat. Cook for five to ten minutes until the filling is hot. Sometimes, a bit of corn is a delicious addition.
For the enchiladas, mix enough filling for two enchiladas (about two tablespoons per enchilada) per person. Use smaller corn tortillas, lightly heating them in a skillet just before you fill the tortilla. Add a bit of cheese, rolling the enchilada, and placing it in a sprayed casserole dish. Fill the dish, spreading the salsa roja across the top. Add a bit of water, then cover everything with cheese. Bake at 415 degrees until the cheese has bubbled and crisped across the top. Allow five or ten minutes of cooling time before serving.
Heard of Native Americans? Ever wonder why they're called that?
ReplyDeleteI absolutely have...and while they are the first people who were here, what I'm attempting to discuss is how *everyone else* is an immigrant...not just people who got here in the last 10 years. Plus, the integration between the native population and colonials in Mexico is much higher than here in the States. That, then, would suggest that even a Tex-Mex version of Mexican food would be more traditionally of the American continent than any European foodstuffs.
ReplyDeleteI wish you would not have remained anonymous and left more than a just snarky comment, as a more in-depth discussion might be fruitful.