Enchiladas Suizas ... Cheesefest!

Last time I made this, it was for Pancake Day ... you know, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, whatever you call it. Anyway, it's been about six months and we really fancied a Saturday night treat.

Treeeeeeeat!

Method was exactly the same as before ...

Filling

I made a beef mince and prawn stuffing with cauli rice.

Back up! Minced beef and prawn? Yes! It works! Simply brown off some minced beef with chopped onion, garlic, chilli and ginger, a good splash of Worcestershire Sauce (which I am let to believe that Mexicans love as Salsa Anglais), some tomato purée and beef stock. Pour in some chopped tomato (not too much, say, half a carton to a pound of beef). Simmer on for a couple of hours. Pour in some small prawns which folks from the US might call shrimp. Steam some cauliflower florets, crush with a fork and stir into the meat - this is the rice.

Pancakes

Make up some manioc tortilla. Something like a cup of manioc flour to four eggs to half a cup of grated parmesan will do perfectly. I hate parmesan, so used pecorino, a hard sheep cheese. Manchego would do equally well. This will make about six to eight 6" tortilla, so adjust accordingly.

Likewise, a pound on mince, a cup of prawns and a reasonable cauliflower will fill those 6-8.

Go on ... roll 'em up!

Roll up! Roll up!

Cheese Sauce

Now for the Swiss bit ...

Understand that we don't need much. No need to go all neolithic and drown this great food in cheese; just a little will do just fine. I used a blend of mature and medium cheddar. Some. I don't measure, so don't know how much, so "some" will have to do as my explanation.

Cheese, grated, melted in single cream. No need for flour. No need for thickener. If you get the cheese to cream right, it works. Grated the cheese, then on a low heat add as little cream as you think you will get away with and only add more if you cannot get the cheese to melt without going hard them moment the pan is lifted off the stove.

Pour the sauce over and pop it into the oven at 175C for about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile ...

Pico de Gallo

While these Enchiladas are gorgeous on their own, just a little Pico de Gallo perfects the dish.

Simply chop up some tomato, cucumber, spring onions and add in some sweetcorn, omitting the later if it's not a part of your ancestral diet.

Serve

Collect the Enchiladas from the oven, serving a couple each and scattering the Pico de Gallo over.

Dig in and enjoy!

Pancake Day Enchiladas Suizas

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day ...

Whatever you call it, we just had it and for dinner, we had a treat!

Enchiladas Suizas

From Wikipedia: "Suiza, or Swiss, is an adjective that indicates the dish is topped with a white, milk or cream-based sauce, such as Béchamel. This appellation is derived from Swiss immigrants to Mexico who established dairies to produce cream and cheese."

Fusion food - Swiss/Mexican? How cool!

We need something for the filling. I made a beef mince and prawn stuffing with cauli rice.

Back up! Minced beef and prawn? Yes! It works! Simply brown off some minced beef with chopped onion, garlic, chilli and ginger, a good splash of Worcestershire Sauce (which I am let to believe that Mexicans love as Salsa Anglais), some tomato purée and beef stock. Pour in some chopped tomato (not too much, say, half a carton to a pound of beef). Simmer on for a couple of hours. Pour in some small prawns which folks from the US might call shrimp. Steam some cauliflower florets, crush with a fork and stir into the meat - this is the rice.

Make up some manioc tortilla. Something like a cup of manioc flour to four eggs to half a cup of grated parmesan will do perfectly. I hate parmesan, so used pecorino, a hard sheep cheese. Manchego would do equally well. This will make about six to eight 6" tortilla, so adjust accordingly.

Likewise, a pound on mince, a cup of prawns and a reasonable cauliflower will fill those 6-8.

Ready to get busy?

Stuff the tortilla ...

... roll it up ...

... repeat ...

Now for the cheese sauce ...

Notice we don't need much. No need to go all neolithic and drown this great food in cheese; just a little will do just fine. I used a blend of mature and medium cheddar. Some. I don't measure, so don't know how much, so "some" will have to do as my explanation.

Cheese sauce ...

Cheese, grated, melted in single cream. No need for flour. No need for thickener. If you get the cheese to cream right, it works. Grated the cheese, then on a low heat add as little cream as you think you will get away with and only add more if you cannot get the cheese to melt without going hard them moment the pan is lifted off the stove.

... pour over ...

... into the oven at 175C for 15 minutes ...

... serve out!

Yes, inevitably, some of the filling falls out, so just heap it back up onto the plate. Fantastic flavours, textures and a superb dish!

Do you like the dish? That's a neolithic artefact!

Bacon & Sweet Potato Rösti

Breakfast!

Rösti is a Swiss potato dish and in its purest for is quite simply grated potato fried in a pan of butter and committed to the oven to cook through.

Rösti can be more broadly defined as a potato dish with the addition of cheese, bacon and onion, and in our case, even more broadly, made from courgette and carrot.

We're going to use sweet potato as the main part, boosted with bacon, flavoured further with daikon, onion and coloured with beetroot.

Grate the sweet potato, daikon and onion, then squeeze all the juice out. Squeeze several times until you are sure you've got all the juice out. Transfer to a large bowl.

Shred some bacon and fry it off. Add to the bowl.

Chop some herbs - chives are good here. Add to the bowl.

Finally, grate some pickled beetroot and carefully add to the bowl.

Salt, pepper ... some melted butter (around three or four tablespoons) and fold together.

Take a skillet (or two, if you're cooking for two), more butter, more than you'd use to fry, and then spoon in the shredded mixture pressing down with a spoon.

Don't worry about it binding - it will, in the pan.

Fry off on one side, flip over and fry the other side. Frying should be about 4-5 minutes each side, then transfer to a pre-heated over (say, 180C?350F?) for a further few minutes ... while you fry off some eggs.

Flip? It's pretty flimsy!

Here's how ...

Slide one out onto a board, holding the empty pan over the second one. Invert. Now, place the empty pan over the board and invert.

I also added some grated cheese once the skillets went into the oven.

Fry off a couple of eggs each and lay over the rösti.

It occurred to me that you could serve in the pan, but on a clean white plate is just as good.

Shellfish Stir Fry over Courgette Rösti

Simple shellfish stir fry, but first, let's look at the rösti ...

Rösti is a Swiss potato dish and in its purest for is quite simply grated potato fried in a pan of butter and committed to the oven to cook through.

Rösti can be more broadly defined as a potato dish with the addition of cheese, bacon and onion, and in our case, even more broadly, made from courgette and carrot.

For two, grate about half a courgette and half a carrot. Double in volume with grated cheddar - I went for mature for a really strong flavour. Crack in a couple of eggs for binding, salt and pepper for flavour. Mix well.

Take a couple of skillets and warm up some fat. Drop half of the mixture into each skillet, pat down and lower the heat so that the underside cooks through and does not burn. After a few minutes, flip over and cook the other side through.

Meanwhile, the stir fry ...

Shred up whatever you want to include - I went with lots of spring onion and some stringless beans. Relax! They're practically all pod.

Begin with some shredded bacon, then toss in the vegetables.

Add in a little ginger, chilli and garlic for spiky flavours and some rice wine vinegar just to keep things from sticking.

Finally, toss in a good bunch of shellfish - I had some really good prawns and some cockles.

Stir together, cook through and serve up.

Place the rösti on a plate, spooning the stir fry over and accompany with some chilli dipping sauce.

Enchiladas Suizas

From Wikipedia: "Suiza, or Swiss, is an adjective that indicates the dish is topped with a white, milk or cream-based sauce, such as Béchamel. This appellation is derived from Swiss immigrants to Mexico who established dairies to produce cream and cheese."

We'll be keeping this paleo with cream cheese pancakes to wrap around a spicy stuffing and a flourless cheese sauce over.

First, make up some cream cheese pancakes ...

1oz of cream cheese and an egg makes two 6" pancakes, so multiple that simple formula as necessary. I have also found that a good knob of melted butter whisked in just before pouring really helps flavour and non-stickiness.

Next, make up the stuffing ...

I made a simple spicy stuffing from a carton of chopped tomatoes, a chopped red pepper, some steamed cauliflower broken down further in the pan and a good portion of small prawns. Spiced with paprika, black pepper and a Scotch Bonnet pepper, and given some oregano aromatics.

Cooked through for a good hour to ensure all the ingredients were well combined, cooked and soft, and water reduced out.

Finally, the cheese sauce ...

Warm up some single cream in a pan and stir in a generous potion of grated cheese - cheddar is perfect. Add a little nutmeg for a warm aromatic and set on low to reduce slightly and keep warm. No flour needed!

Time to build the dish!

Take a pancake and fill with the stuffing. Roll around and lay into an ovenproof dish.

Pour over the cheese sauce, sprinkle over some chopped herbs and bake in the oven at 180C for 20-30 minutes. A few minutes at the end with the grill on to darken the cheese works well - grill, broiler, salamander, whatever your language dictates.

Serve out and accompany with a side salad - I made up a marinated mushroom, green pepper and red onion warm salad, marinated in lemon, lime and sherry vinegar.

Daikon & Parsnip Rösti with Spinach and Poached Egg

Perfect for a starter, breakfast, snack or just because ...

Rösti is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes and while the inclusion of white potatoes as a safe starch in the paleo template is much debated at present, we're going to keep it traditional and use a couple of more conventional tubers: daikon and parsnip.

Daikon in Japanese literally means "great root" and has a mild radish flavour. On the Indian sub-continent, it is called Mooli.

Great! No, "Grate!" Yes, I mean "grate"! Let's get grating ...

Peel and grate a 6" length of daikon into a bowl and squeeze out as much liquid as you can, discarding it. This is the same process as potato. I also like to fry off the grated root in a pre-heated pan, but keep it moving so as not to colour it.

You could just leave it at that and make up a single rösti, double the amount for a couple of rösti or add in another flavour. Return to the bowl.

Peel and grate a parsnip into the bowl - no need to squeeze out parsnips; they're not that full of water. Mix together.

In a frying pan, melt down a good chunk of butter - about half an inch off the end of block of butter is fine. Pour over the grated roots, mix together, grind a little fresh black pepper over and add in a little sea salt if so desired.

Place a couple of rings in the frying pan and spoon in the rösti mix, pressing down to make a firm pack.

Place the frying pan back on the heat and get the rösti frying off - three or four minutes on one side and then flip them over carefully so as not to lose structure. Fry on the other side for three or four minutes and turn back and forth for a couple of minutes at a time, as required.

Meanwhile, in another frying pan add a small chunk of butter and get the spinach wilting down.

Boil up a pan of water sufficient for your eggs - a milk pan is ideal.

Splash in a tablespoon, or so, of white distilled vinegar, lower the heat and swirl the water. Drop an egg cracked into a ramekin into the swirling water and let it poach for a few minutes until the white has hardened. Too long and the yolk will cook.

If you are doing more than one egg, you can get the initial cooking after dropping into the swirling water done and then retrieve the egg into cold water. Repeat until all the eggs are done this way and then return all the eggs into the hot water to warm through and cook on.

The lot should come together in unison ...

Turn out the rösti onto the middle of a plate, spoon over the spinach, plate the egg atop and cut it on one side to release the yolk. Crush a little sea salt over, maybe a sprinkle of chopped chives, maybe a final grind of freshly milled black pepper - it's your egg.

Än guete!