Sunday Fiesta

I've been wanting to cook something all week, lately Nate and I have been eating a lot of easy meals or eating out so tonight I decided to create a feast and invite over our friend Brandon again. 

New Mexican food is more than just cheddar cheese and tortillas, so I looked for inspiration in the New Mexican Cookbook by Lynn Nusom. This cookbook contains recipes for desserts, regional dishes and Native American recipes. After searching through the book I decided on Crab Meat Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce and Spanish Rice. 

I began with making the tomatillo sauce because it would require the most time for the flavors to develop. 

Tomatillo Sauce

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 Lb tomatillos, peeled, washed and diced

1 medium bell pepper, seeded and diced 

1/2 C dry vermouth 

1 C chicken broth 

2 oz green chile, chopped

1/2 tbsp garlic salt

1/2 tbsp garlic powder 

1/4 tbsp fresh ground black pepper

Sauté onion in oil in a medium pot over medium heat until onions become transparent. Add in tomatillos, green peppers, wine, chicken broth, chile and seasoning. 

Simmer over low heat until tomatillos are soft. 

Now, this isn't in the official recipe but I'd definitely recommend putting the sauce through a blender or using an immersion blender. The sauce is more of a thick salsa otherwise. 

Next I began the Spanish Rice. I have an awful track record with rice. 1. The liquid never goes away no matter how closely I follow the instructions on the box and 2. It's always still crunchy so I wanted to make sure I had spare time just in case. 

Spanish Rice

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 C white long-grain rice (or medium-grain if you didn't want to but a new bag of rice) 

2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed 

1 small yellow onion, diced 

2 cups crushed tomatoes, drained (or fire roasted diced tomatoes if you don't want to buy new tomatoes) 

1 C water 

1 tbsp pepper

1/2 tbsp salt 

1/2 tbsp celery salt

1/4 tbsp oregano

1/4 tbsp basil 

In medium pot over medium heat toast rice in oil until brown. 

Pass garlic through garlic press and stir into rice. Add onion, tomatoes, water and spices. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Next came the star of the show: 

Crab Meat Enchiladas 

2 Tbsp Butter

12 oz crab meat (I used canned which I wouldn't recommend unless you use lump crab meat; I also recommend that you double or even triple the amount of meat used)

2 cloves garlic, minced 

1 tbsp parsley 

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 large flour tortillas, warmed 

In a large skillet, sauté crab meat in butter. Add garlic, parsley and seasonings and heat through. 

To serve, put about 1/3 C of crab mixture into heated tortilla and roll. Cover with tomatillo sauce. 

Another addition I made that wasn't in the original recipe was to mix in around 1/4 cup of the tomatillo sauce into the crab meat. 

This dinner was pretty simple and cheap to make. With the changes I recommended I think any and all of my readers will enjoy this meal! 

Happy eating!