The Lunch Belle’s Famous Organic Green Chile Cheese Enchiladas
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St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan in 387 A.D., once said, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” while referring to the Church in Rome fasting on Saturdays—which is not something they practiced in Milan. The moral of the story was to follow the custom(s) of where you are visiting.
So when I’m in my hometown of El Paso, Texas, I like to eat as the El Pasoans do. Is West Texas famous for Italian, Japanese, Greek, or French food? No, but we are famous for the country’s best Mexican food. Having lived in New York for four years now, I’ve not been able to find authentic Mexican remotely close to that of my beloved hometown. I can tame my cravings for nearly every other cuisine in Gotham except for my favorite Southwestern dishes.
During a recent trip to El Paso (which had been the first time in a year and a half), I was determined to eat as much Mexican food as I possibly could. On the eve of my sister’s engagement party, I decided to treat my exhausted family to a home-cooked meal and make cheese enchiladas with my favorite organic green chile sauce.
These days, who has time to make their own labor-intensive sauce from scratch? 505 Chile brand makes the best enchilada sauce that you can purchase in a jar. Recently, I read on the 505 Chile website that their amazing sauces can now be shipped anywhere in the world! This means that folks all over can finally enjoy the same caliber of Mexican food that I’ve grown up with! On this note, I couldn’t help but share my famous organic green chile cheese enchilada recipe with you all! Assuming each person will eat two enchiladas, this will serve approximately 7 guests.
Enjoy…
Ingredients:
15 corn tortillas
½ cup corn oil
1 ½ pounds of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 (or ½) cup chopped white onions
1 16 ounce jar of 505’s Organic Green Chile Sauce (choose from mild, medium, or hot when adding to online grocery cart)
½ cup organic chicken OR vegetable stock
Preheat oven to 275°F. Grease a 13×9 inch glass baking pan.
Add oil to a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat. Allow oil to warm for approximately two minutes.
Immerse corn tortillas, one by one, into hot oil and cook for 10 seconds on each side, using tongs to flip. Once finished, pat each tortilla gently with a paper towel to absorb excess oil and set aside. Be careful—they will be hot!
In a shallow bowl or pie pan, pour entire jar of 505 Organic Green Chile Sauce and ½ cup of organic chicken or vegetable stock together. Stir until blended and set aside.
Create a workspace/assembly line for yourself by placing the correct ingredients in their proper order beginning with:
• Fried corn tortillas
• Sauce/stock mixture
• Clean plate (to roll the enchiladas on)
• Shredded cheese
• Onions
• Greased 13×9 inch glass baking pan
Dip the corn tortilla into the sauce, fully immersing it on each side. Remove and place flat on the clean plate.
In the middle of the tortilla, add ¼–1/3 cup of cheese and a pinch of chopped onion.
Roll tortilla up like a burrito, and then place in baking pan.
Repeat these steps until you have used all of the tortillas. Spoon the remainder of the sauce on top of the rolled tortillas (now enchiladas), and then sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions.
Cover pan with foil. Bake covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for 10 minutes.
I love my enchiladas with a side of rice and beans—and occasionally, a dollop of sour cream!
Naturally,
Lindsay, The Lunch Belle
15 East Japanese Restaurant
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After attending a Tory Burch trunk show that lasted until 8 p.m., my friend Linda and I decided to make a night of it by grabbing some dinner afterwards. Debating about which cuisine we’d prefer, we finally chose to go with sushi. Eating a healthy meal sounded right. I suggested we try 15 East after reading the rave reviews on my favorite interactive foodie blog, www.chowhound.com.
After perusing 15 East’s website for myself, I became drawn to sushi chef Masato Shimizu’s concept, which involves “his virtuoso skills honoring the freshest ingredients. Extremely personal and a natural educator, Masato enjoys teaching customers about the fish he serves, often using a book to show the exact cut or section. He believes that patrons should not be intimidated by sitting at the sushi bar and welcomes their questions.” Come on folks, how often do you not feel intimidated at a sushi bar? This certainly sounded like my kind of restaurant!
15 East is located at 15 East 15th Street, between Union Square and 5th Avenue. If you blink, you’ll miss the restaurant. Upon entering the space, the sushi bar is to your right. This area is bright, with an immaculately clean and shiny white tiled background. What seems like a very sterile room is illuminated by the bright colors of the fresh fish and the interaction between the sushi chefs and their patrons.
My friend Linda and I had reservations for 8:30 p.m., but arrived at the restaurant much earlier. The hostess was very accommodating and sat us immediately, despite our 45-minute early arrival. (Upon making my reservations a couple of days prior, I was asked whether I wanted to sit at the sushi bar or in the main dining room. I asked the reservationist which area she preferred, and she insisted that since it would be our first time dining at 15 East, we be seated in the main dining room.)
The main dining room at 15 East is modern yet elegant with high ceilings, large windows with sheer white panels, slate grey walls with beautiful white crown molding, and perfectly dim lighting.
Upon being seated, my friend and I ordered drinks; she had sake, and I had the hot buckwheat tea. The menu is of good size with a lot of variety, both raw and cooked items. We decided to share an order of the house-made soba noodles with the duck and scallion broth. For our mains, she ordered a roll and sushi and I ordered a tuna roll and a couple of pieces of hamachi.
The amuse-bouche of the evening, pumpkin tofu, arrived in a soup bowl. The morsel resembled a perfectly squared piece of an orange pate de fruit with a white-chocolate-covered almond on the top. I ate the amuse in one bite. The pumpkin portion was gelatinous in texture and what resembled a white-chocolate-covered almond was firm in texture. The flavor was smoky, sweet, and salty, finished with a firm “crunch” from what I still can’t figure out what the topping was.
About 10 minutes later, our soba noodles arrived. The cold buckwheat noodles paired with the steaming hot, salty, smoky broth was fantastic, each bite made better with the delicate crunch of the scallions and the thinly sliced gamey duck.
Our sushi and rolls arrived next. My hamachi was extremely fresh, firm, buttery, and creamy. The tuna roll I ordered was so simple and delicious, the only components being seaweed, wonderful sushi rice, fresh fish, and wasabi. I’ve had so many rolls with bad sushi rice, old fish, and too many ingredients for something that should be so simple.
And then the dessert menu arrived. Today, I hate myself for being “good.” This dessert menu was perhaps one of the most appealing that I’ve seen, with items such as the Rice Pudding Tempura à la Mode or the lovely Passion Fruit Pudding. There’s no question—I must order dessert next time!
Overall, my experience at 15 East was great. The food was fresh, the service was great, and the atmosphere was lovely. I will definitely be returning soon!
Naturally,
Lindsay, The Lunch Belle
Babbo Italian Restaurant
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Securing reservations at a restaurant like Babbo is nearly impossible, unless you’re famous or have plenty of time and patience on your hands. And let’s face it, 99% of us don’t have either! The thought of having to call the restaurant’s reservation line exactly one month to the day of intended dining (which unfortunately is protocol in most haute Manhattan establishments), getting a repetitive busy tone over and over again because every other New Yorker and their mom is doing the same thing at the exact same time is enough to make me pull my hair out!
So instead of trying to figure out why top-notch restaurants don’t utilize the call-waiting feature, I had basically just written off ever being able to eat at them. I do love a challenge, but come on; this goes way above and beyond even the most extreme high-maintenance endeavors!
A couple of months ago, I heard about a website called tablexchange.com, which serves as a medium between restaurant reservation sellers and buyers. In plain English: it’s a website where lucky people who were fortunate enough to have secured amazing reservations at top-notch restaurants can sell their tables to people like me! So here’s the dish: Once you are at the home page of the website, choose your dining location and browse through the available reservations. For a fee never more than $40, you can purchase a table at a fantastic restaurant! Amen to that!
I secured reservations for two at Manhattan’s hottest Italian restaurant, Babbo, at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night and invited my dear friend, Megan, to join me. Babbo is the uber-famous crown jewel of Food Network chef, Mario Batali (he operates a plethora of restaurants). What makes this restaurant so special is (and I quote from their website), “We fervently believe in the inherent quality, freshness and greatness of our region’s ingredients purchased from local, predominantly organic, farmers and friends, many of them from forgotten or heirloom varietals.”
Megan and I decided to meet at the restaurant around 7:45 p.m. Early bird that I am, I arrived at Babbo at 7:30 p.m. expecting a small and crowded space. To my surprise, I entered a large (by New York standards), dimly lit, lively but not insanely swamped, charmingly beautiful restaurant! The space whisks you away to the warm interior of an intimate townhouse where you’re the honored guest of your wealthy friend or relative (so what if you don’t have a wealthy buddy or granny—use your imagination!)
A friendly hostess promptly greeted me and we confirmed my reservation, then I made a beeline towards the bar for a much needed glass of something bubbly. People sitting at the bar stools were either eating their dinners or having a cocktail while waiting for a table. After making eye contact with the bartender, I wedged my way closer and ordered a glass of Prosecco from the weighty and thick leather-bound wine list book. For $9.00, I was served a very healthy pour of Italian sparkle. Not three sips later, Megan arrived and we informed the host of our complete party. Finally, at 8:15 p.m., we were led upstairs to our table.
Megan and I were seated at what would have been the perfect “date night” table. Think two chairs placed next to each other, hidden behind a small, round ice-cream-parlor-style table. Que romantico! We chuckled a bit, but were very pleased to be seated on the second floor, instead of the more boisterous first level.
Our waiter handed us menus and took our drink orders. Megan and I each chose one of Babbo’s nightly cocktail specials, a blood orange Cosmopolitan and a sour apple Bellini. The drinks were poured tableside, which we found very impressive. Both beverages were fantastic.
Upon perusing Babbo’s food menu, I found the prices to be shockingly legit. Perhaps I assumed that because of the big name, big prices would follow. Everything on the menu sounded lovely and so uniquely creative; it was hard to choose just a couple of dishes. Megan and I both ordered the Winter Vegetables Salad to start. For my entree, I went with the Mint Love Letters pasta and Megan chose the Goat Cheese Tortelloni.
After ordering, we were served a generous hunk of fresh bread and an amuse-bouche of chickpea bruschetta. The crispy bite-sized bruschetta was topped with chickpeas that must have been marinated in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and fresh herbs.
Our salads arrived shortly thereafter, and both of us agreed that this was one of the best plates of greens we’d ever eaten. The bed of salad appeared as though it had been shredded in a cheese grater and looked like a hay stack of emerald-green shavings. Dotted throughout were fresh cubed squash, baby Brussels sprouts, and pearl onions. The salad was finished with a light balsamic dressing and topped with a goat cheese crouton. How could something so simple and healthy be so delicious?
At long last, our entrees arrived. Since Megan is a pescetarian, she wasn’t about to taste my lamb sausage pasta and luckily, I didn’t feel the need to taste her Goat Cheese Tortelloni. I will tell you that she was extremely satisfied with her entree, but I am not able to comment on how it tasted.
On that note, let me explain the intricacy of my pasta dish. When my plate arrived, I was a bit confused when I saw pillowy, overlapping raviolis in a tomato sauce. When I imagined Mint Love Letters, I suppose I envisioned more of a ribbony pasta dotted with finely chopped mint leaves and Merguez sausage. All assumptions aside, my first bite was positively memorable. The homemade ravioli was filled with ground lamb and fresh mint that blended together exquisitely and created a silky interior. The ravioli’s exterior was cooked perfectly, neither al dente nor over-boiled. The best part of the entree was how the zing and spice of the tomato sauce created a symphony of flavors with the delicate pillows of pasta.
Since Megan and I didn’t order a “secondi,” we decided that we had saved enough room for dessert. I went with three scoops of gelato and Megan ordered the Pistachio and Chocolate Semifreddo. My sampling included one scoop of espresso, one scoop of buttermilk, and one scoop of honey-vanilla gelato. All were equally fantastic and handmade with the highest quality ingredients. Megan’s semifreddo popped with flavors of pistachio, almond, and dark chocolate.
In conclusion, Megan and I were extremely satisfied with our highly anticipated dinner at Babbo. It’s safe to say that all of my preconceived assumptions were incorrect: the restaurant wasn’t insanely crowded, the prices weren’t off the charts, the service wasn’t snooty, and the dining rooms weren’t casual like Otto’s (another Mario Batali joint).
I highly recommend fighting with the rest of the city to grab a reservation at Molto Mario’s crown jewel, and think it’s a wonderful spot for a romantic date or a “dinner with the parents.”
Naturally,
Lindsay, The Lunch Belle
