Another TDS recipe. . . .

Taqueria del Sol’s Chicken Enchiladas with Lemon Cream Sauce

Hands on: 30 minutes Total time: 2 hours Makes: 12 enchiladas

8 cups cold water
1 (3 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into quarters
2 ribs celery, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons salt, plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons margarine (or equal parts butter and vegetable oil)
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
Vegetable oil for heating tortillas
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups Lemon Cream Sauce (see recipe)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeños

In a large stockpot, combine water with chicken, celery, carrot and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook until chicken is just cooked through, about 35 minutes. Do not overcook as the chicken will be cooked again.

Remove chicken from cooking liquid and allow to cool. Return stock to a boil.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and return them to the stockpot. Cook stock 20 minutes longer. Remove from heat, strain stock and refrigerate. Discard skin, bones and vegetables. May be prepared up to one day in advance. You will use 3 cups in Lemon Cream Sauce recipe. Remainder can be reserved for another use.

While stock is cooking, shred cooked chicken. Set aside. Can be prepared up to one day in advance and refrigerated.

When ready to serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

In a large skillet, melt margarine over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and bay leaf and cook until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook 2 minutes or until most of the liquid has cooked off. Stir in reserved chicken and season to taste. Discard bay leaf.

In a small skillet over medium-high heat, add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom. Place 1 tortilla in the oil. Cook until the tortilla begins to bubble, about 30 seconds. Use tongs to gently turn the tortilla. Heat another 30 seconds and lift the tortilla and place on a few paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, adding vegetable oil as necessary to the skillet and layering the tortillas on paper towels to drain.

Place about 1/2 cup chicken filling in the center of each tortilla. Roll tightly and place seam side down in prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling, arranging tightly in the dish so they all fit. Cover with Lemon Cream Sauce, then sprinkle top evenly with cheese. Bake until bubbly and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.

To serve, divide enchiladas between serving plates. Serve with pickled jalapenos.

Per enchilada, including Lemon Cream Sauce: 340 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 23 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 21 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 73 milligrams cholesterol, 651 milligrams sodium.

Taqueria del Sol’s Lemon Cream Sauce

Hands on: 10 minutes Total time: 10 minutes Makes: 4 1/4 cups

3 cups chicken stock
Juice of 1 large lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sour cream

Salt to taste

In a large saucepan, bring the chicken stock and lemon juice to a boil.

In a small bowl, stir butter and flour together to make a smooth paste. Stir butter-flour mixture into hot stock, spoonful by spoonful, and simmer until the stock is very thick. You may not need all the butter-flour mixture.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in sour cream. Season to taste. May be made up to 2 days ahead and gently reheated before using.

Per 1/4-cup serving: 83 calories (percent of calories from fat, 74), 3 grams protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 7 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 14 milligrams cholesterol, 26 milligrams sodium.

TDS Fish Tacos

Taqueria del Sol’s Fish Tacos

Hands on: 20 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Makes: 8 tacos

1 cup panko bread crumbs

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup maseca (instant corn masa flour)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup milk

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoons Creole mustard

Vegetable oil, for frying

2 pounds tilapia, cut into 1 ½-inch wide strips

8  6-inch flour tortillas

½ cup Poblano Tartar Sauce (see recipe)

Pickled jalapenos, sliced, for garnish

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse panko 5 times until broken into small pieces. Move panko to a bowl and stir in flour, maseca, cornstarch and salt. Whisk together until well combined. Pour mixture into pie plate and set aside.

In another pie plate, make egg dip by combining milk, egg and mustard. Whisk together until well combined. Set aside.

In a large skillet over high heat, add ¼-inch vegetable oil.

Dip fish strips into egg dip and then roll in breading. When oil has reached 350 degrees, carefully arrange fish strips in hot oil and cook until crisp and golden on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Do not crowd skillet. When fish is cooked, remove to a wire rack or paper towels and let drain. Keep warm and cook remainder of fish.

Heat tortillas 20 seconds in microwave. Top each tortilla with two pieces of fish and 1 tablespoon Poblano Tartar Sauce. Garnish with sliced pickled jalapenos and serve immediately.

Taqueria del Sol’s Poblano Tartar Sauce

Hands on: 5 minutes

Total time: 5 minutes

Makes: 1 ½ cups

¼ cup diced poblano pepper

1 small jalapeno, stem removed

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt

In the bowl of a food processor, combine poblano, jalapeno and onion. Pulse until everything is evenly chopped but not minced, about 10 pulses. Move chopped vegetables to a medium bowl. Stir in mayonnaise and lemon juice and season to taste. May be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken from TDS

From The Evening Edge . . . this is one of my favorite dishes at TDS!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce - from Taqueria del Sol

Ingredients:

3/4 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed

1 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

1 pounds chicken breast cutlets

½ - ¾ cups buttermilk

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

Oil for frying

4 T unsalted butter

1 (2-ounce) can mild green chiles

¾ teaspoons prepared horseradish

¼ cup sweet pickle relish

¾ cups heavy cream

Salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the beans and cook 3 to 4 minutes, remove and cool in a bath of ice water.   Prepare the Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce and the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. As chicken cooks, heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan, add the green beans and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

To serve, spoon 1/4 cup Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce onto each plate. Top each plate with 1/8 of green beans and 1/8 of cutlets.

FOR THE CHICKEN: Soak the cutlets in the buttermilk for 2 hours. On a plate or in a shallow bowl, combine the flour, pepper and salt. Heat oil to 350 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour. Fry until golden brown and crispy on the outside, about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of cutlets). Drain on paper towels.

FOR THE SAUCE: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and add chiles, horseradish and pickle relish. Cook 3 minutes and add heavy cream. Turn heat to medium high, cook 3 minutes, then puree in a food processor or blender (be very careful with hot liquids in the blender, as they can overflow suddenly). Strain the mixture and return to the saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to about 2 cups (it should be fairly thin). Keep warm.

Nutrition:

Per serving: 723 calories (percent of calories from fat, 62), 39 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber, 50 grams fat (26 grams saturated), 207 milligrams cholesterol, 445 milligrams sodium.

Per serving, green beans only: 63 calories (percent of calories from fat, 43), 2 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 3 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 8 milligrams cholesterol, 35 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.

Per serving, sauce only: 344 calories (percent of calories from fat, 89), 2 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 35 grams fat (22 grams saturated), 116 milligrams cholesterol, 152 milligrams sodium.

Per serving, chicken only: 316 calories (percent of calories from fat, 36), 35 grams protein, 14 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 12 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 83 milligrams cholesterol, 258 milligrams sodium.

Taqueria del Sol

Last week I went to lunch at Taqueria del Sol – one of my favorite lunch places. It’s fairly small, so unless you want to wait in line, you got to get there early. The menu’s fairly simple, too – tacos, enchiladas, and a few sides. There’s also a weekly special – a taco and a blue plate meal. My favorite meal is a fish taco with a side of greens. Maybe a few chips (always warm, lightly salted and served with freshly made salsa) or some jalapeno coleslaw. Yum!

So over the weekend, I finally broke down and tried to recreate their fish taco recipe. I started with the menu description, made a few tweaks to fit my tastes and voila! I tried finding their recipe for Jalapeno coleslaw – it was posted on-line as part of a Georgia Chef program – but wasn’t able to, so I developed my own. I’ve added my mango salsa recipe which I served with the tacos. And as always, adjust the seasonings and jalapenos to suit your own tastes!

Fish tacos

1 pound tilapia
½ cup corn masa
½ cup fine bread crumbs
egg wash
peanut oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 - 6 flour tortillas
sliced jalapenos

Cut the fish into small pieces. Season the corn masa with the salt and pepper. Dip the fish in the egg wash, then roll in the corn masa. Dip in the egg wash again, and roll in the bread crumbs. Fry in the peanut oil in a cast iron skillet.

Heat the tortillas following the directions on the package. Spread some jalapeno tarter sauce on one of the tortillas, then place the fried on half of it. Add a few sliced jalapenos, and fold tortilla over filling. Repeat with remaining tortillas and fish.

Jalapeno tarter sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup relish
2 tbsps diced capers
2 tbsps diced jalapeno (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons lime juice

Mix together. Cover and store in refrigerator. Best if made a day head of time.

Jalapeno Coleslaw

1 small head of cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated
½ onion, grated
2-3 diced jalapenos (remove seeds if you wish)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp cider vinegar
¼ cup lime juice
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Toss cabbage, carrots, onion, and jalapenos together. Make dressing by combining mayonnaise, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Toss vegetables with dressing to coat.

Mango Salsa

1 mango, chopped (about 1 cup)
¼ - ½ cup red onion
½ cup diced cucumber
2 tsp dried cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice

Mix all ingredients together and let sit while making the tacos.