Red Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Instead of getting another cookbook and recipe under the belt, today I went back to any oldie but goodie.  Sometimes  you have a craving that requires Rick Bayless's assistance.  He's so swell.

Heaven forbid though, that any cookbook I own begins with the words "open a can of premade sauce."  I'm not going to lie to you...as I was preparing the enchilada sauce, I kind of wish I had a cookbook that started with premade sauce.

A mere 25 very messy minutes later, I had sauce...

Red Chile Sauce:
4 medium dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and cut into flat pieces
2 garlic cloves peeled and quartered
One 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
salt

1. In a blender puree garlic, tomatoes(with juice), chiles, cumin and pepper until smooth.  Strain over medium-mesh strainer if blender does not completely smooth out the sauce.
2. Pour sauce into medium saucepan and cook until the sauce is reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add broth and cook for additional 10 mins. Add salt to taste.

About a 1/2 cup goes into the bottom of the pan, and another 1/2 cup goes into the 2 cups of cooked shredded chicken, and you are ready to roll the little suckers up.  With the sauce made, the effort is all downhill from here. (Heat corn tortillas in micorwave for a few seconds to soften, fill with chicken mixure and a bit of cheese, roll, and lay seam side down in pan).

Top enchiladas with sauce and sprinkle with a "Mexican melting cheese" per Rick.  Or cheddar if that's what you have in the fridge. 

Bake in a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the enchiladas are heated through. 

Of course these can be served up restaurant style with some rice and beans, but that was entirely too obvious.  Rick had a recipe for a Jicama Salad with Lime-Cilantro Dressing that looked much more fascinating. 

Jicamas are a bit difficult to describe.  Is it a fruit or a veggie...floating somewhere in between potatoes and apples?  I only know that I eat outrageous amounts of them--sliced up and eaten plain, diced with lemon juice and cayenne pepper, mixed with black beans and corn.  Jicama = love.

Jicama Salad with Lime-Cilantro Dressing
Adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday


1 jícama (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into sticks
Dressing:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
 
1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender; cover and process until smooth.

2. Drizzle dressing over jicama