Thursday, October 09, 2008

Think rustic
--Enchilada Sauce


Enchilada Sauce
Mexican Family Favorites Cookbook Copyright 1983

3 Tbsp. oil
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups water (or use meat stock) I used water
6 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. garlic powder

Heat oil and brown flour. To 2 cups of water (or stock) add chili powder and dissolve. Add chili to browned flour and mix well. Add seasonings and blend. Bring to a bubbly boil, stirring frequently. Simmer covered, 5 minutes.

Makes 1 ¼ cups sauce.
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I know these enchiladas didn't photograph very well but try to think of them as 'rustic'. That might help. That's what I did.

I had some chicken, some multi-grain tortillas and some queso fresco. I originally was going to make tostadas since last week when I was standing at the deli in the grocery store, I saw that they had tostadas on the Mission display. So I put tostadas on the menu but when I went back to buy them - no tostadas. Figures. I grabbed the multi-grain tortillas but I wish I had grabbed corn tortillas. I really didn't know I was going to end up making enchiladas like this or corn tortillas would have been better.

Oh well, this post is about the sauce. I'm not a Mexican or Tex-Mex food expert but I can guess this wouldn't compare to a sauce made straight from chilis or even with a good chili powder but it was as good as the canned stuff or better, even using a basic inexpensive chili powder. It was fast and cheap (if you use a cheap chili powder). I was afraid of using all of that chili powder but I should not have been. It had nice flavor, with a bite but not too spicy.

And there were no tomatoes - I know some of my readers will be happy about that!

Question of the Day: Have you ever tried making something from scratch, that you would normally buy prepared? You don't have to name everything because I'm sure many of us have done it more times than we can count. It's fun to make things from scratch sometimes but I'm glad I don't 'have to' do it, KWIM? It's nice having the option to grab things right off the shelf, ready to go. I don't think I'd enjoy food as much if I still had to churn my own butter.

P.S. I added a new background. Is it too 'busy'? It was free and only took a minute to add - check out the link on the upper right of the screen if you're interested in one for your own blog. I never added anything like that before so if it causes any technical problems for anyone reading this blog, let me know (especially if it makes the page load slower for you!)

6 comments:

Wanda said...

I love the new background, and no, it doesn't cause me any problems with loading or anything.

Not being an avid (or that great of a) cook, I do know what you mean about probably not enjoying food as much if you had to make everything from scratch. The only things I can think of that I've made from scratch are bread, cakes and things like that. Also noodles, but they never turned out like I wanted them to. I used to make bread totally from scratch (no bread machine, even) all the time. I'm not much of a cake person, though, so don't use cake mix either unless I absolutely HAVE to make a cake for some occassion.

DancesInGarden said...

Angel food cake (it is so easy to buy that premade ring from the grocery store, and you can even buy mixes for them now). The consensus was it was not worth the work LOL.

Anonymous said...

Background looks fine and works okay for me.
I usually buy the industrial size containers of Chili Powder so the amount in this wouldn't be a problem.

I generally don't make basics from scratch unless a recipe calls for it (like vinaigrette). I don't make bread from scratch either. I so need to get going on things like that.

Bunny_lover said...

Love the new background! No problems for me at all.

I usually use box cake mixes. One time I made ravoli and that was way too much work for the end result.

Anonymous said...

I don't really like the new background.

It makes the page text look smaller or something.
Still loads okay, though.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I don't think the background has anything to do with the text - I was playing with the text separately last week and I might have messed it up. I'll have to keep playing with it and see if I can make it larger.

Thanks for the feedback!