Culinary Gringos

From time to time, we find that it's nice to settle down to a nice homemade meal in the 'Mexican Food' genre. Just like the abuelitas we never had used to make. Our south of the border repertoire includes the usual taco, burrito, enchilada, etc. We fancy ourselves pretty good Mexican food cooks, after all there's practically a Mexican joint on every corner where we live in San Pedro. That being said, if we really want to be real with ourselves, we know that what we're making is probably generic "Acapulco", "whitey-style",  or "gringo" Mexican food. That's cool. It's what we are, right? White folks making food inspired by our neighbors from down south and the variety of cultures that surround us everyday right here in Los Angeles.

The only bummer about cooking Mexican food is that whenever our Mexican or South American friends see how we cook Mexican food, they roll their eyes and tell us about the prized recipes that have been in their families for generations. Now I don't know about you, but that just makes us jealous that most of the time our Mexican culinary prowess involves purchasing a Lowrey's packet and throwing it into some ground beef.

So we decided to go ask the Internet, who is an ancestor of us all, for a good Mexican recipe. We found a good one for Enchiladas and Calabacitas.


First, we chopped up about 16 Roma tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic, as well as just the right amount of onions and threw them onto an oiled cooking sheet. Then into the oven they went to get nice and roasted. After roasting, we threw this mix or mezcla of vegetables into a blender and pureed it up into a sauce for later use.



We diced up some green chiles to add a little fuego and color to our enchiladas. But, they were Anaheim chiles. Nice and mild just how us whiteys like our chiles.



We seasoned up our chicken with cumin, paprika and chile powder, then proceeded to pan fry those chicken tits.


Our chicken tits got the chop chop treatment into bite-sized bits, perfect for wrapping up with a warm tortilla hug.


Since we know how to multi-task in the kitchen, we prepped some zucchinis and some summer squash for a little roasting while we wrapped up our enchiladas.



During the assembly process we didn't miss a beat with a little chicken, cheese and chiles gingerly arranged on a tortilla, which had been dipped in simmering chicken broth. The broth bath really helped in making the tortillas tender and vulnerable - just the way we like them - so that they didn't give us any trouble when we turned them into little bundles.  It also helped the tortilla to get friendly and bind to itself when going into the cooking dish.



After rolling up those bad boys or chicos malos, we smothered them in cheese and chiles, as well as our roasted tomato, garlic and onion sauce from earlier.


Into the oven with our enchiladas.



While our enchiladas cooked up in the oven, we added some onion, corn and seasonings to our roasted zucchini and cucumbers and sauteed. After the saute was finished, we topped the veggies with a little oregano, and just like that we had our calabacitas.



Once the enchiladas were done, it was time to plate everything and add some of our favorite toppings.

Of course we had plenty of left-overs, which tasted even better than the first-timers. Maybe that's the secret to good Mexican food. They are always serving you yesterday's food and the stuff you see them making fresh in the kitchen is for mañana.
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