Enchiladas with Chili Gravy by Erythrosine

1. While the tortillas do have to be cooked before you fill them, it works perfectly well to steam them, instead of individually frying each tortilla, which takes forever (and adds a huge dose of oil or lard). I learned this from Martha Rose Shulman's NYTimes piece about tacos. I wrapped twenty corn tortillas in a nice clean dish towel and steamed them over boiling water for one minute, then removed the pot from the heat and left them covered for fifteen more minutes.

2. Robb Walsh's Chili Gravy is the perfect Tex-Mex enchilada sauce, if your chili powder is good, and fresh:

Chili Gravy
1/4 cup oil or lard
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon powdered garlic [I substituted fresh garlic, of course]
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoon good chile powder [I used Penzey's, but Gebhardt's is supposed to be good]
2 cups chicken broth (or water)

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux. Add all the dry ingredients and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients, then add chicken broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Add water to adjust the thickness. Makes 2 cups.

For a filling, I used diced cooked chicken thighs, grated queso fresco, fresh cilantro (since there were no cilantro-haters present), and onions (cooked with the chicken thighs). Given the amount of ancho chili in the chili powder, I'm not sure how much it mattered that the chicken broth I used in the chili gravy was double-strength homemade broth, not the canned stuff, but you probably wouldn't want to add any salt if you used canned broth.