Street-Style Enchiladas with Homemade Adobo Sauce

Chef and restaurateur Kelly Myers of Xico (pronounced “chee-ko”) in Portland, Oregon shows us how to make a quick form of enchiladas, she refers to as street style. They are cooked on a grill or stovetop without any baking. Meyers also whips up a tasty adobo sauce from scratch using dried chili peppers, and spices. Below are the recipes from the video for making both the enchiladas and adobo sauce.

Red Chile Enchiladas with Zucchini, Potatoes, and Cheese recipe

recipe courtesy of Kelly Myers
Serves 4 as a light main course

Introduction
Make the adobo the day before and these enchiladas, which do not require baking, will come together quickly. Improvise with any combination of cooked vegetables to fill the enchiladas, or add shredded cooked chicken, crumbled chorizo, or flaked fish.
You can usually find the dried chiles, Mexican oregano and Mexican cheeses in Mexican markets or larger grocery stores.

Ingredients:
For the adobo:

• 9 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 5 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 9 chile de arbol, stemmed
• 1 tsp Mexican dried oregano
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• ½ tsp ground cumin, preferably freshly ground
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp dark brown sugar
• ½ cup chicken broth or water
• 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

For the enchiladas:

• 2 to 3 Tbsp vegetable oil, or more as needed
• 2 zucchini, or carrots, cut into sticks
• 2 medium yellow potatoes cut into sticks
• 12 corn tortillas
• ½ cup queso fresco
• 3 romaine leaves, sliced crosswise into ¼ inch strips
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 pickled jalapenos cut into thin strips
• ¼ cup crumbed queso cotija or feta cheese

Instructions:
For the adobo:

1. Roast the unpeeled garlic on an ungreased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until soft and blackened in spots. Cool and peel.
2. Toast chiles on the griddle or skillet until they are fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Rehydrate chiles in a bowl of hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and discard water.
4. Put garlic and chiles in a blender with the remaining adobo ingredients. Blend to a very smooth consistency, stopping to scrape and stir a few times.
5. Add 2 Tbsp more of broth or water if the mixture is too thick to blend.
6. Pass adobo through a mesh strainer into a bowl. Season liberally with salt. The adobo should taste salty and slightly bitter.
7. Add 1 Tbsp of the vinegar and enough water to make adobo the consistency of canned tomato sauce.

Finishing the enchiladas:

1. Heat griddle or a heavy skillet over medium heat. Film with some of the vegetable oil. Sauté potato sticks until tender and set aside.
2. Sauté zucchini sticks until al dente and set aside. Season vegetables with salt.
3. Heat griddle or skillet with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Dip 3 tortillas into the adobo sauce, immediately laying them on the griddle or skillet in a single layer.
4. Flip after 10 seconds and sear the other side. Add 1 tablespoon queso fresco and quickly remove tortillas to a warm plate.
5. Fill each tortilla with some of the potato and zucchini and fold over.
6. Set aside enchiladas until you complete the rest. You will need to add a little vegetable oil to the griddle or skillet for each batch of tortillas. Take care not to burn the adobo.
7. To finish, toss lettuce with remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar. Garnish each plate of enchiladas with the lettuce, radishes, strips of jalapeno, onion, cilantro and the queso cotija.