Celebrating Dr. Fritz!

Thomas’ defense went very well on Tuesday and he now officially has his PhD! In honour of his success (and because Fabrice was coming over for dinner) I made enchiladas with red sauce and carrot cupcakes with cream cheese and sour cream icing for dessert. In the pictures above Thomas is busy ironing the placemats. Had to put him to work- don't want the Dr. title to go too much to his head!:)

Both of these recipes came from a recent People magazine special, ‘Cooking with the Stars’ and are Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria’s recipes, she also has her own cookbook. I made some significant changes to the enchiladas recipe since it called for shredded chicken and I’m a vegetarian. It also called for pre-made flour tortillas, which I wanted to make from scratch. I made up my own simple bean filling for the enchiladas and used the Rebar 'flour tortillas' recipe for the tortillas.

Red Enchiladas

10 medium tomatoes, quartered
10 dried ancho chiles (I used one jalapeno pepper instead and this was not nearly spicy enough)
8 cloves garlic
1 cup vegetable broth
¼ cups vegetable oil
1 can black beans
1 can refried beans
3 yellow onions chopped
1 green pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups grated or crumbled queso fresco or shredded Mexican cheese

1)    For the sauce:
Place tomatoes and chiles in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until chiles are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and remove stems from the chiles. Working in batches, place tomatoes, chiles, garlic and broth in food processor. Process until well pureed.

2)    In large skillet heat ¼ cup oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking.Add sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat. Set aside to cool.

3)    Enchiladas filling: Saute 2/3rds of onions until translucent. Add green pepper, sauté for a few minutes. Then add refried beans and black beans and red pepper flakes. Stir and set aside.

4)    For the enchiladas: Dip one tortilla in the red sauce, lightly soaking both sides. Place tortilla in the baking dish and arrange about 3 tbls of bean filling inside. Sprinkle on a bit of onion. Roll tortilla and place at one end of baking dish. Repeat until enchiladas are sung in the baking dish.

5)    When all enchiladas are rolled, pour remaining sauce over them. Sprinkle cheese over top and cover pan with foil. Place in over until cheese melts and enchiladas are heated through, 15-20 minutes. Remove from over. Serve with Mexican rice.

Finished enchiladas! Really good but not quite spicy enough.

Recipe I used for the Flour Tortillas (from Rebar, p 43)

Ingredients:


1 ½ cups white flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp white sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp vegetable shortening
¾ cup hot water

1)    In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Using the tips of your fingers, add shortening by working into the dry mixture until little pea-shaped balls form. Gradually add hot water while using your other hand to mix with a wooden spoon. When the dough is too still to mix with a spoon, reach in with your hands and gently knead for 2 minutes. (I found I had to add extra flour here to make the dough more workable and less sticky) Shape unto a ball, place into a clean bowl and cover with plastic. Let sit for at least one hour.

2)    Next line baking tray or dish with parchment paper, sprinkle with flour and set aside. Uncover the dough and pinch off a gold ball-sized amount. Roll the dough in you palms to form smooth spheres. Dust lightly with flour, set on parchments paper and cover loosely with plastic. Repeat with remaining dough. Set the tray aside, covered to rest for another hour.

3)    When you are ready to roll and cook, lightly sprinkling flour on counter and set ball of dough in the centre, pressing lightly to flatten. Roll the dough to form tortilla (about 8” round). Repeat with remaining dough and stack tortillas between sheets of wax paper.4)    Heat a cast iron pan or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Brush lightly with oil and cook tortilla on the first side until you see bubble forming underneath. Flip over and cook until lightly golden. Wrap in foil and keep in a warm oven until all of the tortillas are cooked. Serve immediately!

Carrot Cupcakes (I cut this recipe in half- If you follow as is it makes two 8" round cakes- bake 45 minutes)

2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda1 tsp table salt
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups peeled and coarsely grated carrots (about 6 medium carrots)
1 cup chopped and roasted pecans, for garnish

For cupcakes:

1)    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins.

2)    In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt three times.

My lovely friend Kendra

3)    In the work bowl of an electric stand mixer or in a large bowl with hand-held mixer, beat oil and sugar. Add eggs and beat until well combined. A eggs and beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture and still until just blended. Add carrots in small amounts, folding gently after each addition.

4)    Pour into prepared pan and bake until cupcakes are golden.

5)    Cool in the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around the outside, remove from pan and cool right-side-up on the racks.

6)    Frost cake with cream cheese frosting. Top with pecans.

Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Frosting

16 oz cream cheese at room temperature
½ sour cream
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat together cream cheese and sour cream. Add sugar one cup at a time, blending between each addition. Mix in vanilla. Beat until smooth about 3-5 minutes.