Entomatadas 237

Almost everyone knows what an enchilada is. In case you don't, it's some kind of filling (meat, vegetable or cheese) rolled in a corn tortilla and then covered with some kind of enchilada sauce. These usually come in red or green, but there are many other varieties as well. In restaurants enchiladas usually come 2-3 to an order, are smothered in sauce, garnished with chopped lettuce, tomato, some kind of cheese, and are served on a plate with arroz y frijoles. At home enchiladas are often a vehicle for leftovers. You have some leftover chicken; you shred it, roll it into a corn tortilla, then make a sauce to go over the top - and it looks like a brand new meal!

Entomatadas are a variation on this theme of rolling something into a corn tortilla and then serving it with sauce, but rather than a chile based sauce (which enchiladas have, thus the name en-chil-adas), entomatadas have a tomato based sauce (thus the name en-tomat-adas). These can also be spiced up several different ways or served as a less spicy version of the enchilada.

Last night we had chicken ENTOMATADAS. In the morning I had made a sauce from canned tomatoes, chipotle chiles, and salt & pepper to taste. Later in the day Javier cooked a couple of chicken breasts, shredded the meat, then added diced bell peppers and onions. We served them separately (no side dishes) topped with shredded romaine lettuce and queso fresco.

This is a simple meal which can be made more involved or elegant by adding several toppings, serving side dishes such as arroz, guacamole or frijoles.

We're getting close to the end of the month, which also means we're running low on all kinds of ingredients. In the next couple of days we hope to do some Mexican food shopping as we begin to explore other Mexican dishes that we can put on our menu each week!