Food, Wine and Travel ... With Recipes: TableConversation.com

The Way to Perfect Guacamole

Goat cheese and mango in guacamole? That may sound weird, but it's a great combination, says Roberto Hernandez, executive chef of Dos Caminos in the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

He'll also put in shrimp, lobster or even grapes. But you have to respect his views, because Hernandez really knows his guacamole. "Everyone who comes to the restaurant orders it," he says.

That's because each order is prepared from scratch, which makes it very different from bulk guacamoles that are made in advance. The avocados (Hass) must be at the right stage of ripeness. Rather than mashing them to a puree, Hernandez leaves them slightly chunky.

For a class in guacamole-making at Dos Caminos, he set out avocados and plates of cilantro, chiles, onion, tomatoes and limes. Along with kosher salt, that's everything needed for perfect guacamole.

Hernandez crushes part of the cilantro, chiles and onion with salt to bring out the juices. Then he works in the avocado, the remainder of the fresh seasonings, tomatoes and a squeeze of lime, folding carefully so as not to overmash the avocado.

The only lapse from authenticity is that he substitutes a resin bowl for a rough Mexican molcajete. That's not Hernandez's fault. State law in Nevada does not allow restaurants to use lava rock mortars.

As a student who graduated from the class with a "very good" from Hernandez, I can say that the result is still excellent guacamole, about as good as you can get. And the margarita that I drank as I worked was pretty good too. 

Dos Caminos, The Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas NV 89109. Tel: (702) 577-9565.

DOS CAMINOS GUACAMOLE

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced jalapeno or serrano chiles
Kosher salt
1 large ripe avocado
2 tablespoons finely chopped cored and seeded Roma tomato
1/2 lime
Warm tortilla chips

Place half the cilantro, onion, chiles and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a molcajete or other heavy mortar. Mash and work the ingredients until the juices emerge.

Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed and scoop out the flesh. Place in the molcajete and gently mash with a fork until smooth but some chunks remain.

Add the remaining cilantro, onion and chiles and the tomato and fold in lightly. Squeeze in the lime juice and fold. Taste and add more salt if needed. Accompany with warm tortilla chips.

Makes 2 to 3 servings. 

A Roadside Stop for Quail

Let me eat at a stand by the side of the road, as long as that stand is Las Gueritas.

The road is northern Baja's Highway 3, which runs from the coast above Ensenada to Tecate. 

Las Gueritas appears where it bends at the town of Francisco Zarco. If you're driving and keep your eyes on the road, you'll miss it.

It doesn't look like much, just a small sunbaked stand--actually a cart--in an expanse of dirt. But it has the best quail (codorniz) around--grilled over a wood fire, marinated Chinese style, cooked with mushroom cream sauce or in estofado, a thick tomato stew.

Las Gueritas has been there for many years. The name refers to the fair-skinned daughters of Lucia Villasenor Padilla, who does the cooking and runs the stand with her husband's help. Before, her mother-in-law was in charge.

The day my friends and I stopped by, they had run out of wood. This meant no grilled quail. Instead, we had quail that had been marinated overnight with oyster sauce, onion and garlic, then cooked in butter.

Our lunch included rice, salad, hot tortillas and cold Dos Equis beer and a taste of the stand's other specialty, pork (cochinita).

But the quail stood out, brown and slightly sweet from the oyster sauce. I liked it so much that I copied it at home. No quail in my larder, but Cornish game hens made a good substitute.

CORNISH HENS LAS GUERITAS

2 Cornish game hens, quartered
1 small onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup oyster sauce
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil

Combine the quartered hens, onion and garlic in a large storage container. Add the oyster sauce and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate overnight, turning once or twice.

Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet, preferably non-stick. Drain the hens and place in the skillet skin side down. Brown over medium high heat 10 minutes, turning once. Do not crowd the pan. If necessary, brown in batches, 4 pieces at a time.

If the skillet is large enough, combine all the pieces. Otherwise, place half in another pan, along with some of the cooking juices. Cover and simmer until just done, about 15 minutes.

Drain the hens and place on a platter. Cover and keep warm until serving time.

Makes 4 servings.

Las Gueritas, Highway 3 at the entrance to Francisco Zarco in the Guadalupe Valley, Baja California. Open only during the day.  Read more about it at  http://streetgourmetla.blogspot.com. Search for Las Gueritas.

A Taste of Puebla in Ensenada

Fish tacos, margaritas and shopping--that sums up Ensenada for most vacationers.

But head away from the tourist shops and their shiny purses, T-shirts, shell bracelets and semi-porno beer mugs, and what do you find?

Great Mexican food, real Mexican food, in restaurants where you're not likely to come across another tourist.

Take, for example, El Huarache Poblano. It's not glamorous, just another corner place with the name in big letters so that you can't miss it.

Poblano means from Puebla, a city famous for mole poblano, tinga (shredded meat) chiles en nogada and many other specialties. A seasonal dish, the chiles are stuffed with meat and fruits, topped with a creamy nut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

In Puebla, almost every restaurant serves chiles en nogada in the fall. El Huarache Poblano has them now and will continue to serve them on weekends well into September. It's run by a family from Puebla, so the cooks know how this food should taste.

The chalupas are very good. The base is a small, thin tortilla made at the restaurant, not a thicker commercial tortilla pressed into service. The topping is shredded meat in a red or green sauce and crumbled cotija cheese.

The mole, which is the restaurant's own formula, is dark and rich, not overly sweet, and has a nice kick of heat. It's delicious on chicken enchiladas, laced with crema.

The huaraches, shaped like the sole of a sandal, come with several toppings, among them tinga, chicken mole, potatoes with chorizo and rajas, which are creamed chile strips.

Like the chalupa tortillas, the huarache bases are made at the restaurant, and you can watch how this is done. The masa is placed between sheets of wax paper on a tortilla press and pressed in several stages. Each time, the end is slid further outside the press to get the oblong shape.

The shaping and baking take place at a corner work station dominated by a large, round, gas-powered grill.

A simple agua fresca de tamarindo (tamarind drink) indicates the care taken in the kitchen.

The drink is made from tamarind pods, not a bottled concentrate, which would have been much easier. Tangy, with just enough sugar, it is perfect with this food.  (My recipe for the drink appears below.)

Dessert is flan, jello or cake, but something not on the menu, made for a youngster, caught my eye. That lucky boy was going to eat a plate of fried bananas soaked with sweetened condensed milk and crema, sprinkled with nuts and decorated with a cherry.

Nice touches include serving the food on Mexican pottery plates. And the restaurant is strung with intricately cut colored sheets of paper, traditionally used in Mexico for festive occasions.  Look closely, and you will see that some of these spell out the word "huarache."

El Huarache Poblano, Riveroll 420, corner 4th Street, Zona Centro, Ensenada. Tel: (646) 161-6746. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Monday.

AGUA DE TAMARINDO
Tamarind Drink

½ pound tamarind pods (about 10)
6 cups water
¾ cup sugar, or to taste

Remove the shells and strings from the tamarind pods. Place them in a large saucepan and add 4 cups water.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and boil gently for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand until cool enough to handle easily, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

With your fingers, remove the pulp from the seeds and discard the seeds. Also remove any small strings and hard bits of membrane.

Place the pulp and the cooking liquid in a blender container, making sure that all seeds have been eliminated. Blend thoroughly. For a really smooth drink, put through a sieve, but you don't have to do this.

Pour the puree into a pitcher or large storage container. Add the 2 remaining cups of water and stir in sugar to taste.

Add ice to the pitcher if serving immediately. Or chill and serve later over ice in tall glasses. The tamarind pulp will settle to the bottom, so stir well before pouring.

Makes 6 cups, or 6 servings. 

 

In Mexico, It's Espaguetti

Once, when I was preparing a book proposal, my agent told me not to use the word spaghetti. It's too mundane, too ordinary, too common and dull, she said. Instead, I had to write about "pasta."

Well, spaghetti isn't the least bit ordinary, in my opinion, and certainly not in this recipe, which comes from a woman I met in Xalapa in the state of Veracruz. 

It's delicious and easy, just onion, garlic, jalapano, olive oil and lots of cilantro. And it escapes the publishing world's disdain on a technicality. In Mexico, spaghetti is not spaghetti but espaguetti, as my friend in Xalapa spells it.

ESPAGUETTI CON CILANTRO
Spaghetti with Cilantro

8 ounces spaghetti
6 tablespoons olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups lightly packed cilantro leaves, chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions and drain in a colander.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and cook until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the olive oil mixture to the pan in which the spaghetti was cooked and heat. Stir in the salt, then the cilantro.

Add the spaghetti and toss with the cilantro mixture over low heat until combined. Serve as a side dish, topped with Parmesan cheese.

Makes 4 servings.

A Spicy, Cheesy Appetizer

That orange blob you see on the wildly colored plate is a cheese ball. A spicy cheese ball that you can make as fiery as you like with any kind of hot sauce or chili powder.

Would you believe I put in berbere, which is Ethiopian style seasoned red pepper? I happen to live near Ethiopian shops, and I keep that on hand along with hot red chili powders from India, Mexico and Chile. 

The plate, by the way, is from a pottery shop outside Dolores Hidalgo in the state of Guanajuato, so it, at least, is thoroughly Mexican.

SPICY MEXICAN CHEESE BALL

2 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons brandy
1/2 teaspoon very spicy chili powder or hot sauce, or more to taste
Generous dash ground cumin
Mild chili powder or paprika
 
Place the Cheddar and cream cheeses in a medium bowl. Add the brandy, spicy chili powder and cumin and work together with a fork until evenly blended.

Form the cheese mixture into a ball and coat with mild chili powder or paprika. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours for the flavors to blend. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving.

Accompany with crackers.

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Beefing up Birria At Los Arcos

The birria in my taco was so good that I begged for the recipe.

I was eating at Los Arcos, a Mexican restaurant in Medford, Oregon. People who like really good Mexican food  drive miles to eat there, and one of them told me about the place.

Located on the edge of town in an industrial zone, Los Arcos has something rare in this region--handmade tortillas. Women come in to pat them out on weekends. But any day the restaurant offers delicious tacos, chiles rellenos (made with fresh poblanos).  barbacoa, carnitas and many other dishes, all produced from scratch.

The Thursday I was there, the specials were menudo, caldo de pollo (chicken soup) and chicken burritos.  I opted for tacos (with a relleno on the side), because my informant had said they were so good. And the sign on the wall outside indicates that Los Arcos is an "autentica taqueria Mexicana" (authentic Mexican taco shop).

The tacos were small, presented open faced with the meats and a good fresh green salsa on top. Carne adobada (marinated pork) was more delicate than the robust, spicy meat that I am accustomed to. Carne asada was fine, but the birria stood out. The flavors of tomato, chiles and seasonings blended in perfect balance without any sharp intrusion of chile heat or strong spice.

The meat was beef, not goat or lamb as is usual in Jalisco, the state in Mexico where birria originated. Beef birria is not unknown there, so this was not a "foreign" adatation.

The cook, Leonarda Gonzalez, is from Zacatecas, a state that borders Jalisco. Her husband Martin, who owns the four-year-old restaurant, is from a town near Tepic, Nayarit, which also borders Jalisco.

Leonarda was not in that noon, but their son Martin, who was in charge, picked up his phone and called for the recipe. And she obliged, although it was probably a challenge because she cooks without measuring. 

Here is my interpretation of Leonarda's birria. It may not be quite the same, given the way I had to guess at quantities and procedures, but it is delicious in its own right.

BEEF BIRRIA
Adapted from Los Arcos Mexican restaurant

4 dried California chiles
1 pound roma tomatoes
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 inch stick cinnamon
6 black peppercorns
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Lightly coat a heavy griddle with oil and heat over medium high heat.

Place the chiles on the griddle and roast for a minute or two, until fragrant but not browned.  Place the chiles in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand until soft, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, roast the tomatoes, onion and peeled garlic cloves on the griddle until spotted with brown. Remove from the griddle. Pull off any loose skin from the tomatoes.

Drain the softened chiles, reserving 1 cup soaking liquid. Remove the stems. Open the chiles and rinse to remove the seeds.

Combine the chiles, tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender container and blend until smooth. Pour into a sieve set over a bowl. Rinse out the blender with ¼ cup reserved soaking liquid and add to the sieve. Puree the mixture through the sieve, discarding the solids that remain. 

Place the beef in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Pour into a colander and rinse well. Return the meat to the cleaned pan.

Pour the chile puree into the saucepan. Rinse out the bowl with the remaining chile soaking liquid and add to the beef along with 1 cup water.

Add the vinegar, bay leaves, marjoram, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, beef bouillon cubes and salt.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook at a gentle simmer, loosely covered, 3 hours.  If the heat is low enough, it should not be necessary to add more water.

Take out the meat, place on a cutting board and shred, using two forks or a fork and a sharp knife. Return to the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, mixing with the sauce.

Eat as a main dish with rice, or use as taco filling. For tacos, place the meat on top of hot, soft corn tortillas and top with chopped onion and cilantro, then fold and eat.  The beef is not spicy, so accompany the tacos with hot salsa to add as desired.

Makes slightly more than 3 cups, enough for 12 tacos or 4 servings.

Los Arcos Restaurant, 1501 Sage Road, Medford, OR. Tel: (541) 773-8226.

 

What's That in My Soup?

It took years for me to solve a culinary mystery, and a journey from the state of Veracruz in Mexico to Medford, Oregon.

Here's how it came about.

In Jalapa, Veracruz, I often ate at a restaurant called La Sopa, a casual place with lunch specials that were not just cheap but very good. La Sopa is in the Callejon del Diamante, a narrow, steep alley lined with modest restaurants, coffee houses, galleries, shops and outdoor book displays.  

One day, lunch started with a corn and zucchini soup in which floated golden red strands of--something.

"What is this?" I asked the waiter. "Corn silk," he replied. The soup was delicious and would be easy to copy at home, I thought.  All I had to do was buy some fresh ears of corn and extract a little of the silk. 

This did not work out. Fresh corn silk is pale and soft, not at all like the deeply colored stands that floated in La Sopa's soup. End of experiment.

Then, recently, I was shopping in El Gallo, a well-stocked Mexican market in Medford, Oregon. There, on the spice rack, was a little sack of exactly what I had seen in that Mexican soup--barbas de elote--sturdy strands of red corn silk. 

As soon as I got home, I made the soup and put in a few strands--only a few for color, because the barbas are quite wiry.

Since then, I have seen them again, at a market in East Los Angeles.

It turns out that this is an herbal remedy, not a culinary seasoning. So barbas de elote are probably in botanicas and any place that Latino people shop for herbal medicines. I just hadn't known where to look.

Here is the soup. If you can't find barbas de elote, you can add parsley or cilantro at the end for color. Or sprinkle each serving with paprika.

CREMA DE CALABACITAS Y ELOTE
Creamy Zucchini-Corn Soup

1 ear corn
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic, chopped
Generous dash white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 pound zucchini, quartered lengthwise, then sliced crosswise into chunks
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon barbas de elote, optional
1 large sprig thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Spray a stovetop grill with nonstick spray or oil it lightly. Heat over high heat. Place the ear of corn on the grill and roast until flecked with brown on all sides. Remove from the heat, cool, then slice off the kernels with a sharp knife.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the pepper and flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Stir in the broth, then add the zucchini. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the zucchini is very tender, about 12 minutes.

Cool the soup slightly, then puree in a blender or food processor or with a hand blender.

Return to the saucepan. Add the milk, cream, corn kernels, the barbas de elote, thyme sprig and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes, until the corn is cooked through. Remove the thyme sprig before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Chile Verde for the New Year

The other night, I tossed a ritual dinner to say farewell to the holidays and to welcome the new year. The menu previewed what I would like to experience in 2009--good wine, good Mexican food and more encounters with Mexican culture, here and there.

For the last time, I lit the Christmas tree and the red candles on the table and smoothed out the red and black placemats from Santo Tomas Jalieza in Oaxaca.

The main dish was chile verde, assembled from what I had on hand--green chiles in the freezer, fresh jalapenos, an ear of corn, tomatillos that I had intended to use in a salsa, a couple of elderly potatoes and a stray tomato.

The only ingredient that I had to buy was the meat--beef for stewing, although pork would have been just as good.

The beef was chewier than I would have liked, but the chile verde was excellent, the tomatillos adding a pleasant touch of acidity.

What really stood out, though, was the wine, a 2000 red blend from Mogor-Badan in Baja California. I had bought it from Antonio Badan when I stopped by his ranch in the Valle de Guadalupe a few years ago. 

A wine of that age could have deteriorated, especially since the bottle had spent several days submerged in a flooded basement.

The label looked ugly, but, surprise, the wine was glorious, fresh and full of life, perhaps even better than if I had opened it earlier. A deep, dark red with a hint of amber, it was gorgeous to look at too.  

The food and the wine came together so well that, if my dinner could serve as a prophecy, 2009 ought to be a very good year.

NEW YEAR CHILE VERDE

½ pound tomatillos, husks removed
1 roma tomato, peeled
1 small onion, cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic
3 cups water
2 tablespoons oil
1 ½ pounds lean beef for stewing, in 1-inch chunks
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 fresh Anaheim or Hatch chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded and cut into strips
1 small jalapeno chile, seeded and cut into strips
2 medium russet potatoes, about ¾  pound, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
Kernels from 1 ear corn

Combine the tomatillos, tomato, onion, garlic and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil, uncovered, until the tomatillos are tender, about 8 minutes.

Let cool slightly, then puree in a food processor or blender or with a hand blender.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over high heat. Add the beef, the cumin seeds and a generous sprinkling of pepper. Stir to brown each side, then continue cooking until the liquid boils away, about 12 minutes.

Turn the meat into a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add the tomatillo puree, remaining 2 cups water and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, 1 hour. 

Add the chiles, potatoes and corn and continue to cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 30 to 40 minutes.  If too much liquid boils away, add a little more water. The chile verde should be moist, not dry. If too soupy, uncover and boil until reduced as desired. 

Serve with rice and corn tortillas.

Makes 4 servings.

Color My Margaritas Pink

I love to make Margaritas, so tequila bars and their flashy, fancy drinks are wasted on me.

The way to make a really good Margarita, in my opinion,  is to combine  the basics--tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice, preferably from Mexican limes--in a cocktail shaker, then stir and taste to see if the balance is right.

Once the flavor is adjusted, I add ice, shake like crazy and strain the Margarita into a stemmed glass rimmed with salt. I mix only one at a time. That way, it's always perfect. 

Right now, I'm making pomegranate Margaritas. The basics stay the same. But I put in a spoonful of pomegranate seeds, then shake really hard to break up the seeds and extract the juice. What comes out is a pretty pink drink. As you sip it, you can almost hear the mariachis playing.

POMEGRANATE MARGARITA

2 ounces tequila
1/2 ounce triple sec or other orange-flavored liqueur
1/4 ounce (1 1/2 teaspoons) freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

Combine the tequila, triple sec and lime juice in a coctail shaker. Stir, taste and adjust the flavor as you like.

Add the pomegranate seeds and 3 or 4 ice cubes. Cover and shake briskly, 45 to 50 times. Strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Add fresh ice if wanted

Makes 1 serving.

Really Good Chicken Enchiladas

The best Mexican food isn’t always in Mexico, but the good dishes that turn up here are usually just a step away from their place of origin.

And so it was with the chicken enchiladas that I came across recently at Miracle Springs Resort & Spa in Desert Hot Springs.

They were a special for lunch the day that I arrived for a short vacation, and because I adore Mexican food, I had to find out their origin and get the recipe.

The person responsible did indeed come from Mexico.  Cecilia Ortega, who is a sous chef at the resort, grew up in Acatlan de Osorio in the state of Puebla, Mexico. And she certainly knows how to deal with chiles.

Her sauce is simple and straightforward, just dried red chiles soaked until soft, then pureed with onion, garlic and oregano. The filling is shredded chicken, mixed with a little of the sauce. The remainder goes over the top along with plenty of cheese and a scattering of sliced olives and green onions.

The recipe is long, but not difficult. The best procedure is to make the sauce one day, then cook the chicken and assemble and bake the enchiladas the next day. I’ve broken the recipe down into stages to make it easier to follow.

The California chiles that Cecilia uses are mild, so if you want a spicy dish, try blending a jalapeno chile with the sauce. Cecilia serves the enchiladas with beans and rice. Or you can lighten up as I did by substituting a lettuce and avocado salad for the heftier accompaniments.

CECILIA’S CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

12 dried California chiles (about 3 ounces)
¾ onion
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon oregano
7 1/2 cups water, about
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
4 bone-in chicken thighs (about 1 ¼ pounds)
6 black peppercorns
8 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 large green onions, including some of the tops, chopped
¼ cup drained canned sliced ripe olives

The Sauce:

Place the chiles in a deep saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Press the chiles to submerge in the water. Turn off the heat and let them stand until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain

Remove the stems from the chiles and rinse out the seeds. Place the chiles in a blender container or food processor. Add 1/2 onion, cut in chunks; 2 cloves garlic, the oregano and 1 cup water. Blend until thoroughly pureed.

Place a sieve over a large bowl and pour the pureed mixture into the sieve, about 1/3 at a time. Press to extract the chile mixture and eliminate the skins. Rinse out what remains in the blender with another 1 cup water and put through the sieve.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add the chile sauce and bring to a boil. Rinse out the chile sauce container with a little more water and add to the pan with 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. The sauce can be made in advance to this point and set aside for later or refrigerated overnight.

The Chicken:

Remove the skin from the chicken thighs. Place in a deep saucepan and add 5 cups water, ¼ onion in one piece, 1 clove garlic, ½ teaspoon salt and the peppercorns.  Bring to a boil and skim. Reduce the heat and simmer, loosely covered, for 1 hour.

Drain the chicken and reserve the broth for another use. With 2 forks, shred the chicken and discard the bones. There should be at least 2 cups. Stir 1/4 cup of the chile sauce into the shredded chicken and set aside.

Enchilada Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat ½ cup oil in a small skillet. Add 1 tortilla and fry just until softened. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Place 1/8 of the chicken mixture (about ¼ cup) on each tortilla. Roll and place seam side down in a 10x6 glass baking dish or other oblong baking dish.

When all the enchiladas are assembled, cover with the sauce, then with the Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with the green onions and sliced olives.

Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees until heated through, 45 to 50 minutes. Uncover and let stand a few minutes before serving.

Makes 8 enchiladas or 4 servings.