Green Chile Sauce

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This versatile sauce is basic to New Mexican cuisine. It’s at it’s best made with fresh green chile. Finely diced pork can be added but cook the sauce of an additional half hour. Use this sauce over enchiladas, burritos, eggs for breakfast, or the above chile rellenos. It will keep for about 5 days in the refrigerator and freezes well.

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion, finely chopped

  • 1 clove garlic, minced

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

  • 2 to 3 cups chicken broth

  • 1 cup chopped green New Mexico chile, roasted, peeled, stems removed

  • 1 small tomato, peeled and chopped

Instructions

In a medium skillet, heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until they are soft. Stir in the flour and blend well. Simmer for a couple of minutes to cook the flour, being careful it does not brown. Slowly add the broth and stir until smooth.

Stir in the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 15 minutes.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce

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In New Mexico, enchiladas can be rolled or flat and stacked, made with yellow or blue corn tortillas, filled with any number of ingredients, and smothered in chile sauce. After you decide to order enchiladas here, there are still decisions to be made. First, blue or regular referring to the type of tortilla, rolled or stacked, red or green chile sauce and, if you can’t decide and want both sauces, order “Christmas.” And finally you may order them with a fried egg on top, which is true New Mexican fare.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts

  • 2 small onions, chopped

  • 3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 whole cloves

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 1/4 cup black olives, chopped

  • 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

  • Vegetable oil for frying

  • 8 corn tortillas

  • 2 cups Green Chile Sauce 

  • Chopped fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and sour cream for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, cover the chicken, ½ of the onions, garlic, and cloves with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the chicken. Strain and reserve the broth for use in the sauce. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones, and shred.

To assemble: Place a little of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. To soften the tortillas, pour the oil in a pan to a depth of about a 1/4-inch and heat until hot enough so that a drop of water in the oil will sputter. Dip a tortilla briefly in hot oil to soften, remove and drain. Next dip the tortilla in the sauce and place on the baking pan. Place some of the chicken down the center of the tortilla, top with some chopped onions, sour cream, olives, and cheese over the chicken, and roll. Ending with the flap side down in the pan.

Pour additional sauce over the enchiladas and bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Garnish with the lettuce and tomatoes, and top with a dollop of sour cream.

Calabacitas (Squash and Corn with Green Chile)

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For hundreds of years squash and corn have been the staples of the Pueblo Indians in northern New Mexico, and in this popular dish, they are combined with chile. The delicate flavor of the corn and squash with the bite of the chile is a combination that can act as a basis for other variations. Use different types of summer squash, add cheese such as cheddar, Monterey jack, or feta, and/or chicken to turn this recipe from a side dish into an entree.

Ingredients

  • 2 zucchini squash, sliced into half moons

  • ½ small white onion, sliced and separated into rings

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

  • 2 cups cooked whole kernel corn

  • ½ cup roasted, peeled and chopped New Mexico green chile

  • 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano

  • 1/4 to ½ cup heavy cream

  • Salt to taste

    • Instructions

     

    Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat and saute the squash and onion until tender but not soft.

    Add the corn, chile, and oregano to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes to blend the flavors.

     

     

    Keshi Yena (Stuffed Cheese)

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    Numerous variations on this dish appear throughout the ABC islands, but this is the one most commonly served on Curaçao.

    Ingredients

    • 1 small Edam cheese

    • 3 tomatoes, chopped and peeled

    • 2 onions, sliced

    • 1 clove garlic, minced

    • 1 bell pepper, chopped

    • 1/4 cup sliced olives

    • 1 tablespoon capers

    • 1 tablespoon parsley

    • ½ habanero chile, seeds and stem removed, minced (or more to taste)

    • ½ cup raisins

    • 1 tablespoon tomato paste

    • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

    •  tablespoons ketchup

    • 2 tablespoons mustard

    • 2 pounds. shredded chicken or ground meat

    • ½ cup vegetable oil

    • 5 eggs

    • Salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions

    Slice the top of the cheese and preserve. Gently scoop out the inside, leaving a 1/4 to ½ inch shell. The cheese should resemble a hollowed out pumpkin.

    In a large skillet, saute the vegetables, seasonings and meat in the vegetable oil; simmer for about 20 minutes. Beat 4 eggs and stir into the mixture. Spoon into the cheese shell, replace the top and spread remaining beaten egg on top to seal. Grease a shallow baking dish and fill it with about 1 inch of water. Set the cheese in the dish and bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees F. The cheese will expand and flatten slightly but keep its basic shape. Serve hot, cut into wedges.

    Stoba di Cabrito (Curacao-Style Lamb or Kid Stew)

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    This stew recipe includes a small amount of salted beef, another holdover from “the old days,” when that was the only way to ship beef, and it is an ingredient found in almost all the recipes for this stew. The usual meat for the Stoba is kid (goat or cabrito), but we have substituted lamb. If you have a source for goat, try it because it is delicious. The annatto oil is commonly called ruku.

    Ingredients

    • 6 ounces salt beef, covered with water and soaked overnight in refrigerator

    • 4 cups fresh water

    • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

    • 2 pounds young kid (cabrito) or lamb, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces

    • 2 cups diced onion

    • 2 garlic cloves, minced

    • 1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped

    • 1 habanero chile, stems and seeds removed, minced

    • 2 cups tomatoes, peeled and diced

    • 1 teaspoon sugar

    • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

    • 2 tablespoons annatto oil (see Note)

    • 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

    Instructions

    Drain the soaked beef and place it in a heavy casserole with the 4 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour. Remove the beef from the pot, cube, and reserve; strain the broth and reserve.

    Heat the vegetable oil in the heavy casserole, add the lamb, and brown it. Add the onion, garlic, green pepper, habanero pepper and saute the mixture until the onion is wilted – about 3 to 4 minutes.

    Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, lime juice, nutmeg, annatto oil, the reserved cubed beef, and simmer the mixture for 20 minutes.

    Add the reserved beef stock and the potatoes and bring the mixture to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.