ConDFW

I'm announcing that the next ConDFW will be featuring as author guests of honor, Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown! (Our very own sartorias and rachelmanija!)

Website: http://www.condfw.org/ February 13-15, 2015 in Dallas, TX. Pass it on!

thinking aloud

So friends of our throw an enormous weekend-long party each year near Halloween, and I'm considering doing the Saturday lunch. (Last year, one of our friends made roast beef, and I did Alton Brown's Mashers, and we put together a green salad. It all went over well.)

And what I'm considering doing is enchiladas, because I can make all the components separately ahead of time, then assemble and bake in 9x13" foil pans at the party. (Corn tortillas don't want to sit in a moist environment very long without disintegrating.)

So: make a couple of different types of enchilada (I'm thinking chicken and cheese), and serve with esquites (Mexican street corn salad) and cornbread. I've got a fantastic recipe for cornbread* that bakes up nicely and, more to the point, freezes fantastically so I can make it weeks in advance, take it out of the freezer Friday night or Saturday morning, and it'll be ready to eat on Saturday.

On the side: sour cream and/or crema, cilantro, green onions, extra cheese. Jalapeños for those who want a bit more kick.

I'd need to prep chicken ahead of time, but it's easy enough to poach a bunch and shred it in a stand mixer, then mix whatever flavors I want in there. Cheese enchiladas are simple: shredded cheese, diced onion, both of which can be bought like that. Make two different sauces, one red and one green, perhaps, or one spicy and one mild. At the party, heat the sauce, dip a tortilla in the warmed-up sauce to make it pliable, fill with 1/4 cup of whatever mixture (warmed up, in the case of chicken), roll, put into pan. Top with sauce and shredded cheese, bake at 450°F-ish for 10 minutes or so, put on table.

I'm not sure we have any vegetarians in the group, but the cheese ones would give a veggie option if anyone were so inclined. I'm also not sure how many are showing up at this moment: I think we had around 30-35 for dinner last year, IIRC.





* Sorry, fellow Southerners, I gotta go Yankee on this one: it's got sugar in it. The horror!