Baby Lady is from El Paso so I don’t even try to cook Mexican food. She does it sooo well! Why mess up a good thing, right? Rick Bayless sooo wanted to eat dinner here last night!

This is Baby Lady’s recipe for Enchiladas Montadas that we had for dinner last night with calabacitas and Mango Sorbet. Although Baby Lady downplays her cooking as simple peasant food, this dish, as well as the others she makes, is truly delicious. Baby Lady is watching me type this and is now telling me there are all kinds of enchiladas. There are red enchiladas, green enchiladas, enmoladas, etc., etc., etc. Sheesh! Some people’s children. You give them a little credit and they go on and on and on. Of course, Enchiladas Montadas is not really a traditional Mexican dish. It is a New Mexico dish and means stacked enchiladas although enchiladas chatas (another stacked enchilada) are also a specialty of Sonora, Mexico. Some Enchiladas Montadas recipes have a fried egg, others do not but they are ALL stacked. So if you see someone with rolled enchiladas with a fried egg on top calling it Enchiladas Montadas, that aint the real deal.

I have always liked enchiladas but until met Baby Lady I had never tried them with a fried egg. Part of this is because Dad is a M.D. and a health nut. Heart problems run in the family and the family has a history of high cholesterol. So, Dad constantly preached about the evils of cholesterol and eggs. As a result, we didn’t eat a lot of eggs growing up because they were high in cholesterol and we were all going to die young. Imagine my surprise when I met the Baby Lady and she started serving me enchiladas with a fried egg on top.

This dish is luxurious. The Salsa de Chile Colorado is earthy and smooth. The soft tender tortillas give it some body and depth. The cheese adds creaminess to the dish and the fried egg adds that little touch of unctuousness. These enchiladas are superb and easy to make.

Ingredients

For the Salsa de Chile Colorado (red sauce)

• 6 – 8 New Mexico Chile Pods, stemmed and seeded
• 3 Guajillo Chile Pods, stemmed and seeded
• 1 slice of bread
• 1/2 medium white onion, rough chop
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 cups chicken broth (or 2 Tbsp powdered chicken bullion added to 2 cups water)
• 1 Tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin

For the Enchiladas

• 12 white corn tortillas
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 cup monterrey jack, grated
• oil (for pan frying the tortilla, if you want a richer flavor, use butter or lard)

Instructions

For the Salsa de Chile Colorado

Add stemmed and seeded chile pods to the blender along with the garlic, onion, oregano, cumin and chicken broth (or bullion and water).* Blend starting on low speed.

Gradually increase speed.

Continue to blend at high speed until the mixture has small red flecks and a nice red color.

Add the slice of bread (preferably the heel).

Turn blender on highest speed and blend for 3 minutes. Blending at the highest speed accomplishes 2 things. First, it liquifies the mixture and you may not have to strain it to remove the chile pod skins. We have a Vita Mix blender that will puree toothpicks so no straining is needed. Other blenders are not quite as good and straining may be required. The second purpose of blending on high speed is to fiction heat/cook the sauce. After 3 minutes of high speed blending you have a sauce that looks like this.

Once you achieve this point pour the sauce into a large pot/skillet/small dutch over and put over medium heat. Adjust salt, as needed.

For the Enchiladas

Add oil to a skillet and begin lightly frying the tortillas.

Once you have finished lightly frying the tortillas begin assembly.

Dredge a tortilla in the Salsa de Chile Colorado.

Place on a plate and top with the monterrey jack/cheddar cheese blend.

Repeat the process continuing to dredge tortillas in sauce stacking on top of the prior tortilla with cheese and topping again with cheese.

Repeat the process a third time. On the fourth tortilla, simply dredge it in the sauce and place on top of the stack. Now add a sunny side up fried egg. Viola, enchiladas montadas.

Serve with avocado slices and calabacitas. Enjoy!

NOTES: Baby Lady uses powdered bullion because she likes the concentrated flavor of the bullion and she doesn’t have to add salt. I prefer homemade chicken broth because of its flavor. If you use chicken broth, you will have to add salt to taste.