In honor of the pending doom that is the start of our respective school years, Sarah, Charita and I decided to continue family dinner every Sunday (a "tradition" inspired by the unofficial HHS class of '05 reunion a couple weeks ago here). This week's charge: chicken enchiladas.
Pretty much anything I cook that isn't my family macaroni and cheese or cake from a box, I have to utilize some serious hand holding. Because even if you have a recipe, there's still an assumed level of culinary background that just makes the whole thing too damn complicated. Take today, for example. Weakley and I decided to go off the cuff and figure out the enchiladas ourselves, without having to call our mommas for advice. Several problems immediately presented themselves:
1. I did not realize that enchilada sauce is not the same thing as salsa. Thus resulting in an argument in the Hispanic food aisle with Sarah, while intermittently commenting on the Phil Collins blaring in the background. We got some good laughs out of our fellow shoppers. Also helpful because the sauce can conveniently had a recipe on it so we had at least some direction.
2. I knew that onion would taste good, but realized that I neither knew which color of onion to choose, nor what constitutes a "good" onion. Firm or soft? Aromatic or no? I went with the assumption that onions should not be squishy, and the yellow one was the cheapest, so done and done.
3. I would have killed us all if I'd been in charge of the cooking, because thanks to my father I assume anything going in the oven doesn't need to be pre-cooked. Again, Weakley with the save.
They should be done in about 20 minutes, so we'll see if our improvising will pay off. I'm suspicious of the decision to go with the cayenne pepper...
And as a side note, the link to good onions is quite insightful. An excellent place to start for all you other kitchen novices.
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