Red Chile Spinach Enchiladas

Although we never ate them in our home when I was growing up, spinach enchiladas are common in many Texas Mexican restaurants, served as a vegetarian dish. Spinach is related to beets and Swiss chard. It was first cultivated in Iran over 2,000 years ago, was taken to Spain by the Arabs during their 800-year occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, and reached us after the Spanish invasion of Mexico and Texas. With raisins and pine nuts, this is a tasty party dish, made extra special with a topping of fresh salsa ranchera.

NOTE ABOUT CURRENT TIMES:
For more than 500 years, Native people have survived invasion, genocide, forced removal, and attempts at erasure.

Our food is memory. Our food is ceremony. Our food is survival.

Today we are again witnessing cruelty — families torn apart by policies enforced by ICE, children held in detention camps, people killed in our streets, including in Minneapolis. We are told this is normal. It is not.

Donald Trump and those who support his policies are advancing a politics of fear, punishment, and exclusion. We know from our history what happens when leaders target the most vulnerable and call it patriotism.

So I cook. I gather. I nourish.

This is how we resist. This is how we remember who we are.
As we have always done, we will prevail.

Recipe for Red Chile Spinach Enchiladas

Recipe for Red Chile Spanish Enchiladas is from “The Texas Mexican Plant-Based Cookbook”

Ingredients (serves 4)

3 pasilla chiles
3/4 cup water, 
additional water as needed
12 corn tortillas
1 Tbs. canola oil
1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

For the salsa ranchera
2 lbs. Roma tomatoes
4 oz. quartered white onion
2 serrano chiles (use only 1 chile for a less hot salsa)
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
2 lbs. fresh spinach
2 Tbs. canola oil
6 Tbs. pine nuts
6 Tbs. dark raisins
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste

For the spinach filling
2 lbs. fresh spinach
2 Tbs. canola oil
6 Tbs. pine nuts
6 Tbs. dark raisins
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste

Method

To make the red chile
1. Slice open the pasilla chiles and remove the stem, the seeds, and the veins. Place them in a saucepan and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the chiles rehydrate for 20 minutes, until soft and pliable.
2. Place the chiles in a blender with 3/4 cup water and blend on high until they form a smooth purée with no granules. (You may have to let the chiles cool before doing this, depending on your blender.) If there are still some particles, strain through a fine mesh sieve.
3. Heat 1 Tbs. canola oil in a large saucepan, then pour in the chile purée. Watch for splatter, keeping a lid handy to cover the saucepan halfway as necessary. Fry the chile for about 6 minutes until the color deepens. Add just enough water so that the chile is slightly soupy and thinly covers the back of a spoon. Set aside and keep warm.

To make the salsa ranchera
1. In a comal (griddle) or cast iron skillet, roast the tomatoes, onion, serrano chiles, and garlic cloves until they roast and develop black spots, about 7 minutes.
2. Peel the garlic cloves and place them with the serrano chiles and one half of the tomatoes in a blender and blend for a few seconds until smooth. Add the onion and the remaining tomatoes and blend for 4 to 7 seconds, just enough to incorporate the onion and the tomato but still have some tiny bits of texture. Add salt to taste. Set aside and keep warm.

To make the spinach filling
1. Cook the spinach in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain and allow to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze clumps of spinach very tightly to remove all the moisture. Chop the spinach into small pieces, then separate the clumps.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbs. canola oil and add the spinach, raisins, pine nuts, and salt. Stir vigorously to separate any spinach clumps and incorporate the raisins and pine nuts. Cook for 2–5 minutes until the pine nuts begin to brown. Set aside and keep warm.

To assemble the enchiladas
Working with two spatulas, dip a corn tortilla into the warm pasilla chile for about 5 seconds. Depending on how dry your tortillas are, it may take 8 seconds, but watch carefully because if you dip them for too long, they will fall apart. Remove the chile-infused tortilla and place it on a plate. Add 3 Tbs. of the spinach mixture and roll it, seam side down. Do this with all of the tortillas, transferring them 3 to each serving plate. Spoon 1 Tbs. of salsa ranchera over each enchilada and serve immediately. Place the remaining salsa in a bowl for guests who may want additional salsa.
As necessary, reheat the enchilada plates for 5 minutes in a 350°F oven or in a microwave oven for 30 seconds.

Garnish with the fresh chopped cilantro.