Recipe, photo, and enchilada inspiration by Mackenzie Smith. Checkout her food-centric Instagram account to see more. 

 

Garlicky Swiss Chard & Chickpea Enchiladas

Red chile enchiladas filled with cheese have always been a major part of my diet. For special occasions and often just because, my dad serves up individual plates of NM-style flat stacked enchiladas made with dry or fresh red chiles from Chimayo, a town about 30-minutes north of Santa Fe known for producing super flavorful New Mexico chiles packed with smoky, fruity, spicy notes. When I moved to NYC in 2006, my brother Jake helped me get through my first somewhat lonely/homesick year in the city by cheering me up with our own version of Dad’s enchiladas.

Back in 2006, Jake and I had a hard time getting our hands on Chimayo in the city, so we tried several different types of dried chiles from the Mexican deli on our corner. Every time we made red enchilada sauce, we’d try a different type of dried Mexican pepper, or a combination, to see how they’d turn out. Our cabinets were filled with half-opened bags of dried chiles, and we were never disappointed by our red sauce experiments. It’s hard to be mad at a sauce made of spicy red peppers, designed to cover a fried tortilla filled with cheese, with sour cream or yogurt at the ready to cut the heat from a sauce made a little too spicy. (It was never too spicy for Jake.)

I’d give an arm and a leg to have my brother safely out of Brooklyn and cooking enchiladas in my kitchen with me, and I really wish we could have driven out to my parents for Dad’s enchiladas on my birthday last month. But we are staying home and so are they. In an effort to bring some comfort to our own table last week, I made a batch of rolled enchiladas filled with swiss chard and chickpeas that was both nostalgic and nourishing.

It would be an understatement to say that we are all in a place where we could use a comforting meal right now, so I hope you can take some inspiration from my recipe and make your own version of a free-wheelin’ CSA enchilada.

This recipe is far from traditional, designed for riffing on what is available in your CSA and pantry. Frying the tortillas before rolling is not an option (this helps the tortillas from getting soggy when you bake them in sauce and cheese), and neither is a good helping of melty cheese on top, but pretty much everything else here is open for interpretation. The more veggies, the better!

I still prefer my enchilada sauce made with chiles from New Mexico, but after making it my business to try every dried pepper under the sun, I really love the idea that red sauce can be a canvas for appreciating the nuanced flavor and heat profiles from different peppers. These days, I use a variety of dried peppers with different spice levels to create a sensory experience from the sauce’s spice level in contrast to the filling, and I generally omit the traditional garlic/onion/oregano to let the peppers really do the talking because they are already so flavorful (and so is this filling).

The sauce I made last week from dried chiles and chile paste was pretty spicy, so I cooled it down with a few carrots I had roasted earlier in the week. If you don’t have dried red chiles for the sauce (or the time/energy/blender to make it from scratch) premade enchilada sauce works just as well here, and you can doctor it up with what spices and/or roasted vegetables you do have on hand. Not spicy enough? Add some sriracha or your favorite hot sauce to the mix! Have some roasted vegetables you need to consume? Blend them into your sauce.

As for the filling, any leafy green will do. If you use kale or collards, be sure to either omit the stems from the recipe depending on how tough they are, or dice them very small. If you opt for spinach, just fry the chickpeas and stir in the spinach last minute. Roasted vegetables and any type of legume are a nice way to add some heft and additional nutrients to your custom CSA enchiladas.

Makes 10-12 enchiladas

Filling Ingredients

• 2 bunches of swiss chard
• 3 tablespoons olive oil or ghee, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (whole spices are not mandatory, but the crunch is fun! Try it!)
• 1 large can chickpeas, well drained
• 1 clove garlic
• 3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Sauce Ingredients

• 14-15 dried red New Mexico or Guajillo chile, soaked in water for about an hour
• 1/4 cup aleppo pepper (this is optional!)
• 3 tablespoons Doubanjian sauce (this is also very optional! Doubanjiang sauce is a fermented fava bean / chile paste from China. It is funky and spicy and delicious, and very fun in this enchilada sauce)
• 3 medium-sized roasted carrots, cut into pieces (very optional, but a great way to use ‘em up if you need to)
• 4 cups water or stock
• 10 corn tortillas (more or less)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or ghee
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Filling Instructions

Remove the stems from swiss chard. Roughly dice them and cut the leaves into thin ribbons.

In a medium or large skillet, heat one tablespoon of oil until it shimmers, then add cumin and coriander seeds. Cook just until seeds start to sputter and become fragrant, about 30-45 seconds. Stir in chopped swiss chard stems and cook for a minute or so before adding two more tablespoons of oil, then the chickpeas. Cook the chickpeas and chard stems on high for 7-8 minutes until everything in the pan is sort of dry and almost crispy. Add garlic to the chickpea mixture right before you turn off the stove and stir in swiss chard leaves to the pan. Once the leaves have wilted, stir in shredded cheese.

Sauce Instructions

Add the chiles, carrots and oregano and the water to a blender and blend on high until you have a smooth, homogeneous consistency. Pour the blended chiles to a sauce pot and cook over high heat, stirring constantly until bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent any lumps from forming. After 30 minutes, check your sauce: it should leave a thick coat on a clean spoon after a dip into the pan, but still be able to run off the spoon easily. If it’s too thick, add water. If it’s too thin, cook a little longer. Once the sauce is ready, remove from heat.

Assembly

• Preheat oven to 425
• Set up a large plate lined with paper towels to drain tortillas after they fry.
• In a skillet, heat vegetable oil until it bubbles as the edge of the tortilla touches the oil. Cook tortillas on each side until you see a little color and big bubbles start to form in the middle, 10-15 seconds per side.
• Coat a 13x9-inch casserole dish with a ladelful of enchilada sauce.
• One at a time, put a fried tortilla on the prepared casserole dish and add a few spoonfuls of filling before rolling tightly and placing in a row in the dish, seam side down.
• Once all of your enchiladas are rolled, cover them with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.
• Bake until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes.

Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream, pickled onions and edible flowers, if happen to have those lying around : )

Happy cooking!

Mackenzie and her brother, in 2009, standing in front of their favorite Mexican deli.