Red sauce or green, layered enchiladas are delectable

  Red, green or both? Eat in Santa Fe, N.M., and you'll need to declare your preference: red chili sauce, green chili sauce, or a portion of each - sometimes called Christmas style.

   Chilies are the heart and soul of the cuisine, and as I entered the classroom at The Santa Fe School of Cooking, I breathed in the alluring aroma of chilies, fresh and dried. The smell alone - a mixture of smoke, spice and, yes, sweet - made me hungry. And a subtle hint of that chili perfume seemed to scent everything from floor to ceiling.

  The school was founded in 1989 by Susan Curtis; daughter Nicole Curtis Ammerman joined her in the business 13 years ago. The storefront shop offers cookware, tabletop accessories, regional products and ingredients. For ingredients and more online information, go to www.santafeschoolofcooking.com.

  The school is upstairs off the south side of the city's historic plaza. Along with several friends, I joined a class that would focus on traditional New Mexican cookery. We'd see how to prepare the two basic chili sauces, then incorporate them into delectable layered enchiladas.

  I liked the idea of layering tortillas, sauce and other ingredients into casseroles. It's a technique that is a lot faster than the stuff-and-roll enchilada method.

  The chef-instructor, Rocky Durham, set us straight about which sauce is hottest. Green isn't necessarily hotter than red, as most people assume, he said. New Mexican Hatch green chilies (the foundation of the green sauce) can vary greatly in their amount of capsaicin, that incendiary substance that produces the sensation of heat. He said the more accurate question is, "Which one is hotter today?"

GREEN CHILI SAUCE

  Durham started with Anaheim chilies to make his green sauce, a necessary substitute until the harvest of fresh New Mexican Hatch chilies is conducted.

 "The skin can taste like plastic, so these green chilies are always peeled," Durham said, placing fresh Anaheim chilies atop a screen set over stovetop flames. They made loud pepper-popping noises as their skins dotted with black blisters.

  Removed from the heat and sealed in a large, zipper-style plastic bag, the chilies were set aside to cool and steam a little before their skins would be rubbed off and interior seeds removed.

  "(It) should look like the hem of a woman's skirt - shimmering and dancing," he said about the oil he was heating in a pot. I thought about the moving surface of the oil and envisioned the motion at the bottom of a full, sequined skirt. I may never look at hot oil the same way again.

  He added about 1 cup of chopped yellow-skinned onion to the pot. Once the onion softened, he added minced garlic, the diced Anaheim chilies and some defrosted diced Hatch chilies that had been on hand in the freezer.

  After seasoning the mixture with a little ground black pepper, he added some chicken stock and dried Mexican oregano, a more boldly flavored herb than traditional Mediterranean variety.

  "Keep the sauce simple," advised Durham, a Santa Fe native who is writing four cookbooks. "And if it is too liquidy, you can stir in a little beurre manie," a paste traditionally made with equal parts butter and flour (or in this case, a mixture of all-purpose flour and vegetable oil).

  While the mixture gently simmered, he started the red version.

RED CHILI SAUCE

  "We use New Mexican red chili powder, Chimayo style; it's sweet and acidic," he said, explaining that it makes more sense to use ground chilies than to cook chilies whole and purée the sauce.

  He toasted cumin seeds and coriander seeds in a small skillet, just enough to make them fragrant and very lightly browned. An electric coffee grinder used only for spices was drafted to grind the aromatic seeds.

  "There are three ways to clean the grinder," he said. "You can grind up a piece of bread and discard it. Or you can grind up some raw rice and discard it. Or you can grind coarse salt and keep it. The toasted, spice salt can be used to flavor lots of dishes."

  We loved the dual-purpose salt trick. As the small appliance whirled salt with the residual spices left behind in the grinder, he said he would pass the mixture around for students to taste.

  He cooked onions in a large saucepan until they were soft, then added some minced garlic and let it cook about 1 minute.

  Meanwhile, in a large pan, he briefly toasted red chili powder, no longer than about 30 to 40 seconds. He warned that if the powder scorched, it would become bitter.

  He added the powder to the onion mixture, and stirred in chicken stock, the ground toasted spices and a pinch of Mexican oregano. A splash of sherry vinegar and a smidgen of honey followed.

  As the sauce was left to simmer about 20 minutes, the fine art of corn tortilla production was demonstrated. Water was mixed with masa harina and salt to form a dough, which then was rolled out to form tortillas.
 
 And although those tortillas looked, smelled and tasted terrific, I knew that my life is far too busy to make tortillas from scratch.

LAYERED ENCHILADAS

  Chef Durham made one enchilada casserole with green sauce, another with red. The red sauce version layered corn kernels with diced yellow onion, fresh corn tortillas and a mixture of shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses. The green sauce rendition layered shredded cooked chicken with diced onion, fresh corn tortillas and shredded cheeses.

  Once the casseroles had been baked until piping hot, portions were scooped out and topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and dollops of sour cream. On the side, there were servings of pinto beans and posole, a hearty stew that showcases hominy along with vegetables, chilies and cilantro.

  We agreed that the enchiladas were some of the best we'd ever eaten. Indeed, the red sauce tasted sweet and a little acidic. The green sauce, which was substantially hotter than the red, tasted herbaceous and more vegetal.

  And I loved the ease of the layer-in-a-casserole approach. It qualifies these enchilada dishes as perfect fare for casual parties. An irresistible entrée to take to a potluck or a picnic.

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RECIPES:

  You will need to double this Green Chili Sauce recipe to provide enough sauce to make the enchiladas. If you're looking for a shortcut, instead of roasting, seeding and peeling fresh Anaheim chilies, use canned mild (diced) chilies instead.

   Frozen Hatch chilies (roasted, seeded, diced) are available online at www.hatch-chile.com (as well as on other sites). They are available in mild, medium (Big Jim variety) and hot (Sandia variety). When I was leaving Santa Fe to go to the airport in Albuquerque, I stopped at Sam's Club and bought several bags of frozen Hatch chilies. They are the Sandia variety and are extremely hot. I balance them out with mild Anaheim chilies in this sauce. I like to double this recipe and freeze leftover sauce. I use leftover sauce for tacos and stews. If desired, fresh cilantro (to taste) can be added to the sauce at the last minute.

GREEN CHILI SAUCE, Yield: about 2-1/2 cups

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 to 3 teaspoons minced garlic

2/3 cup roasted, peeled, diced Anaheim green chilies

2/3 cup roasted, peeled diced Hatch chilies, defrosted if frozen

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1-1/2 cups chicken broth

3/4 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano if available

Optional to use as needed: beurre manie made with 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour mixed with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Salt if needed

  Heat oil in Dutch oven or large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add chilies, pepper and chicken broth. Rub oregano between your hands and let it drop into mixture. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes.

  If sauce is too thin, stir in about a teaspoon of beurre manie. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and add salt as needed.

RED CHILI SAUCE FROM GROUND CHILIES, Yield: 3 cups

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup finely diced onion

2 to 3 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 cup ground medium Chimayo red chilies; see cook's notes

2-1/2 cups chicken broth or water

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

Salt to taste

  In a small, dry skillet, toast cumin seeds and coriander seeds over medium-high heat until seeds are lightly browned and aromatic; shake handle of skillet to rotate seeds and brown on all sides. Use a clean, electric spice grinder or coffee grinder to grind toasted seeds into a powder. Set aside.

  Heat oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.

  Place ground red chilies in separate large saucepan. Place on medium-high heat and heat chili powder, shaking handle and stirring to keep powder from scorching. Heat it about 30 seconds or so, to lightly toast it.

  Remove from heat. Stir chili powder into onion mixture and stir to combine. Stir in broth or water. Stir in cumin-coriander seed mixture and Mexican oregano. Stir in vinegar and honey. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 20 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly. Taste and add salt as needed.

CHICKEN OR CHEESE WITH CORN ENCHILADAS, Yield: 10-12 servings

Vegetable oil, for greasing pan

3 cups red or green chili sauce (see recipes)

About 16 corn tortillas

4 cups cooked chicken (boned, skinned)

or 3 cups corn kernels

1-1/2 pounds (6 cups) grated Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (or a combination of both)

1-1/2 cups diced yellow onions

Garnish: 2 cups shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce; 1-1/2 cups diced tomatoes; 1-1/4 cups sour cream

Optional garnish: sliced green onions including green tops

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with vegetable oil.

  Spread about 1 cup sauce over bottom of pan and layer half of tortillas evenly over sauce. If using chicken, toss chicken with about 3 tablespoons sauce. Spread half of chicken over tortillas. If using corn, spread half of corn over tortillas.

  Sprinkle with one-third of cheese and half of the onion. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for second layer and top with the last cup of sauce and remaining cheese.

  Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

  To serve, spoon portions onto dinner plates. Garnish with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and top with sour cream.