Cheese and Onion Enchilada
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The best cookbooks have great anecdotes attached to their recipes, particularly if they're written by a chef with a restaurant that has seen its share of visitors. The below recipe for Matt Martínez's Cheese and Onion Enchilada certainly has a great story to tell, and makes you hunger for it even more.
From the book: "MexTex: Traditional Tex Mex Taste" Author: Matt Martínez Excerpt: Enchiladas and TacosIn the late 1970s and early '80s, John Denver was giving a lot of concerts at the University of Texas. He'd heard we had some good cheese enchiladas at our restaurant, and that was one of his favorite things. He called and asked if we'd stay open late after a concert.
He had 60 to 80 people in his group, and he told 'em all what he'd heard about our cheese and onion enchiladas. So when I brought his out, he looked at them a little bit funny. I think he was used to the New Mexican chile enchiladas that had a deep-red chile sauce on top. |
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He looked at the person sitting across from him and shrugged, then he took a bite and said, "Man, these are good, but they're not very hot."
I told him, "We don't make them very hot because we have this hot sauce on the side, so you can make them as hot as you want."
So he poured a little bit on the side, took a little ol' bite and started shaking his head up and down. He asked for more chopped onions, so we brought him some, and he got himself a system going. With a corn tortilla in his left hand, he'd pour a little hot sauce on the side of his plate, eat a bite of enchilada, then kind of scoot it around with his tortilla. Every once in a while, he'd reach over to the onions and get a forkful and drop them on top.
He never said another word. He just finished cleaning his plate with the leftover corn tortilla. It was clean enough to put back in the rack.
"I just never knew, I just never knew," he said. "They told me the truth."
And every time he came in, it was the same thing. He wouldn't order anything else. He had everybody with him ordering our enchiladas, too - a few might ask for beef or no onions, but 80 percent of them would have those cheese and onion enchiladas.
Mr. Denver was an incredible gentleman, and I hope he's getting his cheese and onion enchiladas wherever he is now.
I told him, "We don't make them very hot because we have this hot sauce on the side, so you can make them as hot as you want."
So he poured a little bit on the side, took a little ol' bite and started shaking his head up and down. He asked for more chopped onions, so we brought him some, and he got himself a system going. With a corn tortilla in his left hand, he'd pour a little hot sauce on the side of his plate, eat a bite of enchilada, then kind of scoot it around with his tortilla. Every once in a while, he'd reach over to the onions and get a forkful and drop them on top.
He never said another word. He just finished cleaning his plate with the leftover corn tortilla. It was clean enough to put back in the rack.
"I just never knew, I just never knew," he said. "They told me the truth."
And every time he came in, it was the same thing. He wouldn't order anything else. He had everybody with him ordering our enchiladas, too - a few might ask for beef or no onions, but 80 percent of them would have those cheese and onion enchiladas.
Mr. Denver was an incredible gentleman, and I hope he's getting his cheese and onion enchiladas wherever he is now.
Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
2 cups enchilada sauce of your choice
1 cup vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded cheese of your choice
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
Get your ingredients together and warm your sauce. In a deep-fat fryer set at 350° or a 10-inch skillet on medium, heat the oil. Dip tortillas in oil for 4 to 5 seconds until limp. Place on paper towels to drain.
After all the tortillas have been dipped in oil and drained, dip them in warm enchilada sauce and stack on a cookie sheet or cutting board. Remove a tortilla from your stack, fill with 2 heaping tablespoons of cheese and about 1 tablespoon of onion. Roll up and place seam side down, side by side, in a casserole dish.
Evenly pour or ladle sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and they're ready to serve.
- from MexTex: Traditional Tex-Mex Taste," by Matt Martínez
1 cup vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded cheese of your choice
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
Get your ingredients together and warm your sauce. In a deep-fat fryer set at 350° or a 10-inch skillet on medium, heat the oil. Dip tortillas in oil for 4 to 5 seconds until limp. Place on paper towels to drain.
After all the tortillas have been dipped in oil and drained, dip them in warm enchilada sauce and stack on a cookie sheet or cutting board. Remove a tortilla from your stack, fill with 2 heaping tablespoons of cheese and about 1 tablespoon of onion. Roll up and place seam side down, side by side, in a casserole dish.
Evenly pour or ladle sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and they're ready to serve.
- from MexTex: Traditional Tex-Mex Taste," by Matt Martínez