"With its blasts of hot salsa and cold iced tea, New Mexico's enchilada trail tests even the most determined foodies. But resolute and hungry pilgrims can find ample rewards.
By the time we pulled into Mary&Tito's parking lot in Albuquerque, we were stuffed. We'd already consumed a substantial lunch at Sadie's, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the enchiladas at the James Beard-Award-winning New Mexican restaurant. The four of us slid into a Naugahyde booth and ordered one chicken enchilada to share. With four glasses of water,please.
The server didn't bat an eye, but did hit us with the one simple question that separates the uninitiated from the experienced when it comes to New Mexican cuisine. 'Red or green?' she asked.
This is a trick question. It refers to the kind of chili sauce you'd like on your enchilada. Will it be the smooth red sauce made from dried New Mexican chilis, or the chunky green sauce conjured from fresh green New Mexican chilis? The proper response is not an answer but another question: 'Which is hotter today?' (Each batch varies in hotness, which is crucial information whether you like your enchiladas mild, medium, hot or smokin'.
When the server replied, 'the red,' we bounced back with the simple, 'Christmas, please,' which means red and green. (Note: this used to be a touristo response, but it's become mainstream.)
Our server nodded a pleasant 'uh-huh'-the all-purpose New Mexican response signifying 'you're welcome'- and returned in a couple of minutes with one of the best enchiladas of my life.Our foursome knocked it back in record time and considered ordering another. But, with dinner only a couple of hours away, we decamped to our hotel for a refreshing nap instead.
Just another afternoon on the dusty trail of the New Mexican enchilada. The New Mexican enchilada is the quintessential dish of a cuisine that only exists along the short corridor between Albuquerque (the biggest city in New Mexico), Santa Fe (the capital) and Taos (the art and ski centre). Inhabited by the Ancient Pueblo people for centuries and colonized by the Spanish in the early 1600s,New Mexico is steeped in history. Days can be spent wandering through Pueblo cliff dwellings such as Bandelier National Monument and the ruins at Pecos National Monument, and venturing into the dissolving Spanish adobe churches at the Salinas Pueblo Missions.
For the Spanish, New Mexico was at the end of the long Camino Real, a trail that stretched north from Mexico City. Sometimes supplies would arrive only every couple of years, thanks to distance and unfriendly Apaches. The missionaries of New Mexico learned to rely on the foods around them, and the result was a simple cuisine based on chilis, cheese and beans,all augmented by Spanish-style cheeses.It's not unlike Mexican food, but it incorporates the distinct flavour of New Mexican chilis and is presented somewhat differently. Enchiladas,for example,are flat, not rolled.
Typically,three or four tortillas-corn, flour or blue corn-arestacked on a plate one at a time, and heartily layered with Monterey Jack cheese, shredded roast chicken and red or green sauce. The concoction is then baked for 15 to 20 minutes to melt the cheese and heat everything through.
It's the sauce that gives the New Mexican enchilada, and most of the region's other dishes,its unique identity. The New Mexico 6-4 chili (a.k.a. the Anaheim) is the backbone of the cuisine, lending a spicy elegance to scrambled eggs, soups, meatdishes, vegetable dishes, even desserts. It'sin everything. A Santa Fe chef-Pancho Epstein (his real name, I swear)- once told us, 'In New Mexico, chilis are our drug of choice.' He's right; they're addictive.
In mid-summer, the smell of roasting chilis pervades the air. Drive into any shopping-mall parking lot or farmers' market and someone will be turning a large roasting canister (resembling one of those large raffle drums) over a blazing fire. The roasted, fresh green peppers can be purchased for home use.
Later in the fall, the chilis turn red and are harvested and dried. They're then de-seeded and ground into a powder that can keep for years until it's made into sauce. New Mexico chili sauce comes in many versions, but our favourite, taught to us by Chef Epstein, includes diced onions and garlic, a touch of vegetable oil for sautéing them in, several cups of chicken stock, a few tablespoons of flour for thickening and a heap of chili powder.We fancy it up with cumin and oregano, but that's about all there is to it. Yet every recipe I've tasted is different. Some chefs prefer the earthy richness of the chilis grown insouthern New Mexico around Hatch, while others hew to the lively sweetness of those grown in higher altitude near Chimayo.
I like both and I've been on the hunt for the quintessential enchilada for over 20 years. I've had ones I've loved, others I've hated and many in between. On arriving in Albuquerque,usually in time for lunch, I often head to Duran's Pharmacy and cosy up with the locals on the counter stools for my first enchilada hit. It's good but the sauce here is a bit soupy. The ones at the Church Street Café, just off the cottonwood-treed historic Plaza, are enjoyable, especially with a margarita, but a little restrained, as if the kitchen is afraid to make them too hot.
Over in Santa Fe, I've had my tonsils torched by the blazing sauce at Tia Sophia's and have appreciated the rustic presentation at Harry's Roadhouse. I've lingered over the tequila-soaked dishes of Maria's and been impressed by the upscale renditions at the Blue Corn Café. Then, one day, a local recommended the enchiladas at The Shed, a Santa Fe classic since 1953. I'd ignored The Shed because it seemed, well, a bit touristy and the lineups were always crazy long. But our informant urged us to endure the wait. And a revelation it was.
The Shed's enchiladas are thick and heavy and, when layered with red sauce, are roasted to a nut brown. The aroma is sublime, the texture, dense and rich. There's no powering through one of these; this is food that demands your respect and attention. Served in the courtyard of a hacienda that dates to 1692, with a glass of iced tea, it's the ultimate New Mexican enchilada, one not to be shared with anyone, no matter how long the wait.
Where toStop for
Red and Green
ALBUQUERQUE
Church Street Café 2111 Church St. N.W. 505-247-8522
Duran Central Pharmacy 1815 Central Ave. 505-247-4141
Mary & Tito's 2711 4th St. N.W. 505-344-6266
SANTA FE
Blue Corn Café 133 West Water St. 505-984-1800
Harry's Roadhouse 96B Old Las Vegas Hwy. 505-989-4629
The Shed 113 ½ East Palace Ave. 505-982-9030
Tia Sophia's 210 West San Francisco St. 505-983-9880"
http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Great+Enchilada+Roundup/6239163/story.html
email: newmexicocuisine@gmail.com
tags:
new mexico green chiles chili chile chilli southwestern cuisine hatch new mexico hatch valley santa fe taos albuquerque las cruces new mexico state university chile pepper institute chile ristra roasting chiles green chile stew chile verde chile colorado chile relleno enchilada avocado lime cilantro dutch oven cooking tomato onion garlic chile powder garlic salt chile pequin tomatillo anis anise asafran saffron chimaja wild celery root and leaf cilantro coriander leaves or crushed seeds comino cumin powder or seeds majoram marjoram oregano oregano dried leaves romero rosemary tomillo thyme yerba buena wild mint fresh or dried anaheim pepper poblano pepper trinidad moruga scorpion pepper
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