♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Today on Milk Street we travel to Oaxaca.

♪ ♪ We visit Beatrice, the chef at La Cocina de Frida in the market in Ocotlán.

We learned to make enchiladas verdes as well as molletes, a simple Mexican sandwich served with pico de gallo.

So stay right here with Milk Street as we learned to cook the Oaxacan way.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Where is Oaxaca in Mexico, and what's distinctive about it?

Let's start with that.

- Well, Oaxaca is a southern state of Mexico.

And I would say it's the beating heart of Mexican culture.

We have a deep diversity of ethnic groups and languages, cultures, traditions, and we have a big party culture also.

Oaxaca is very... it's all about celebrations it's is a very celebratory culture.

And in terms of food, this, of course, translates into a great variety of flavors, techniques, processes, and reasons to cook for such celebrations.

- I would have assumed that there were two or three or four different cultural groups in Mexico, but there are dozens, right?

And so just in Oaxaca, there are how many different languages?

- Well, in Oaxaca, we have all over maybe 35 languages, which are a lot.

A lot of them are endangered, others not so much, but it still is something that is getting lost.

But right now we still have a lot of diversity, and you also see it in-in the markets, in the streets.

You can listen to many different languages.

(man playing guitar) (singing in Spanish) - Buenos dias.

Hola.

(man continues singing and playing guitar) So we're here at a market about an hour outside of Oaxaca City with Beatrice and with Maria, of course.

Our guide.

So what are we going to start with?

- So we're doing some green enchiladas here.

This is a very traditional Mexican dish.

So here we have tomatillos, some serrano chili, garlic, onion, and we're going to fry them, and after that, we'll put them in the blender with some cilantro.

- Okay.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) You can see that they're soft, that means they're ready to go.

(man singing, playing guitar, food sizzling) (Beatrice speaking Spanish) So she let it sit for a while, and then she will put them, like, to, in some assembly, the enchiladas.

You want to try?

- Yeah.

Mmm.

Boy, is that good.

This is slightly sweet.

- Yeah, but it's got a little acidic, and it's got a little heat, but it's bright.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) - So she's been... she's been cooking for 24 years, but this kitchen here has been going on for 80 years.

So she inherited him from... - Wow.

- Her mother.

(singing in Spanish) (Beatrice speaking Spanish) So the tortillas here, she put some quesillo in there, and she sold them for a little bit, not much.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then she puts them in the plate, adds some more salsa, and then you add the garnish.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) Cilantro and onion.

And then farmers cheese.

- Fresh cheese?

- Yeah, fresh cheese.

- Oh man, that looks good.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) Yeah, I think so.

(Beatrice chuckles) (man continues singing in background) Mmm.

- And, you know, the filling, she put some quesillo here, some string cheese, but you can add chicken, you know, a thinly sliced beef, tasajo or chorizo on the side.

Whatever you want to put in, maybe mushroom as well.

You can play with the fillings.

- Mucho gusto.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish, chuckles) That is so good.

(singing, playing guitar) ♪ ♪ So I learned a few things in Oaxaca.

First of all, an enchilada is just a tortilla with something in it with a sauce.

So they often just put cheese in it, like I had there.

So you don't have to have a fancy filling, but you can switch in anything you want.

That was first thing.

Secondly, the sauce, they often char tomatillos or chilies right on the hardwood charcoal.

- As you can see, there's no live coals here, but I promise it's going to be really delicious still.

So to get started, we are just going to heat up a tablespoon of olive oil here.

And just like you did in Oaxaca, we're going to fry up some chilies.

So we have poblanos here, this is 12 ounces, so about three good-size poblanos.

We have a pound of tomatillos that we just husked and chopped up; we have one chopped white onion; and then we have six garlic cloves here, and we're going to keep those whole, Chris, because we want them to fry up in the oil, but we don't want them to burn.

And it's just going to take five to eight minutes over medium-high heat for those to get really nice and soft and a little bit of browning on them.

It's been about five minutes, and these are starting to get really nice and soft.

So I'm going to add in a tablespoon of cumin, and that just takes about 30 seconds.

As soon as it's nice and fragrant, we can add some chicken broth.

We're going to add a half a cup of chicken broth.

Now here's a secret: you can use water if that's all you have at home.

But chicken broth adds a little bit more kind of savory depth, - Okay.

- And then that's going to help us finish cooking this so it's all ready to be blended into the sauce.

So this just needs about five minutes, and then we'll add it to the blender and make our sauce.

♪ ♪ All right, Chris, so we took our fried-up onions and peppers, and we're just going to let that sit for five minutes and cool while we make the rest of the filling.

So I have a cup and a half of finely chopped chicken here.

You can absolutely use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, which is my personal favorite.

- Your go-to ingredient, yeah.

- Definite go to.

You could also just poach some chicken breasts.

Or it's a great way to use up leftover chicken.

I mean, really, that's where enchiladas came from, is sort of using up what you had.

So we're just going to combine this with about two tablespoons of hot sauce-- use a little less if it's not your thing-- and six ounces of shredded mozzarella, and we do use whole-milk mozzarella here, Chris.

There's not a ton, and these are really kind of lighter, brighter enchiladas.

But you really want the richness from that whole milk.

All right, and we have a teaspoon and a half of kosher salt and a teaspoon of black pepper.

All right, so let's finish up the sauce.

I'm going to blend this for about one minute until it's pretty smooth.

(blender whirring) So now I'm going to add a cup of loosely packed cilantro.

♪ ♪ (blender whirring) And you just want to blend that for a minute, or until you see that the cilantro is really well incorporated.

It's really fresh and bright.

So we're going to start by putting a cup of the sauce...

Thank you.

Teamwork.

- I don't want that to fall out of your hand That wouldn't be too... - I knew we had you here for a reason.

- See?

So a cup of that is going to... actually, Chris, while you're at it.

So just a nine-by-13 baking dish.

Would you mind pouring that cup just straight down the middle of the pan?

So you can see we have about a cup left of this, and we're going to add it in two parts.

So now we get to heat up our tortillas.

Now, this is a really simple but really important part of the recipe.

I will admit I skipped it once, and it's a disaster.

The tortillas just break everywhere, and they don't get nice and pliable, so don't skip it.

So what we're going to do is we have two tablespoons of olive oil here, and I'm just going to brush the tortillas with oil on both sides.

And then we stick these in a 475-degree oven.

So the same oven that you're going to be cooking your enchiladas in.

But just for three minutes.

We cover them with foil, it's totally fine if the tortillas are overlapping a little bit.

And you'll leave them in there for just three minutes.

- This just makes them pliable?

- Exactly; so they soften, they absorb a little bit of that oil, almost steam a little bit, so they're really easy to roll.

Now, you don't leave them in there for too long, because if you do, then they can get a little bit dried out and brittle.

Now, I'm just going to cover it and stick them in the oven.

♪ ♪ All right, Chris, so you can see these are really nice and soft and workable now.

So you just want to work on your clean countertop or a cutting board here.

And to fill this... it's so tempting to overfill them, so I actually force myself to measure out so that I don't get stuck with some sad tortillas at the end with no fillings.

So you want about three tablespoons of this mixture and then you want to roll it up pretty tightly, and it's sort of like the first pancake.

The first one's always kind of the ugliest.

And then right on top, seam side down, of course, so that all stays together.

And you want to kind of scooch all the filling right down to the bottom.

- Okay.

All right, and there's the last one.

So I'm going to take our remaining sauce, Chris.

I'm going to pour about a half a cup over the top here.

So I'm just going to cover this with foil, and these are going to go into that 475-degree oven for about 15 minutes.

♪ ♪ So when these came out of the oven, I actually added another half cup of that sauce and covered it with foil.

And that just helps it steam a little bit more and heat up that extra sauce.

But you still have that nice freshness instead of, you know, the cooked sauce, which we already had on there.

- Okay.

- And then we saved a little extra to add at the end.

- Mmm.

- Thank you.

- Add a little extra here.

- I always like a little bit of extra lime.

The tomatillos already have quite a bit of nice acidity, but that lime is really nice.

- You know, it's, it's really bright and fresh.

Has a little bit of heat, but it's, um... sometimes you get an enchilada, it feels like a bad lasagna, like, it's just so heavy.

This is really light, it's good.

- Yeah, I like the spice, and I like that we don't add a ton of cheese or anything on at the end.

So they all kind of stay neat and fresh and really bright, like you said.

- So light, fresh, great tomatillo sauce you can use on lots of different things.

Instead of cheese, we use chicken and a little bit of cheese.

The tortilla we softened up in the oven and made a very simple tomatillo-chili sauce that actually goes right into the blender after just cooking for a few minutes.

Bright flavors, very fresh.

It's the Oaxacan way.

♪ ♪ (woman playing violin) (man singing in Spanish) (singing and playing continues) (speaking Spanish) (singing continues) - She's going to do some molletes.

Well, it's a very basic for children's parties, for posadas, for all these little social gatherings we have in neighborhoods.

- What's a posada?

- Birthday... A posada is a party we have before Christmas.

- I bet you have 365 different social gatherings a year.

Yeah, actually.

- Something like that.

- Yeah.

(chuckling) We use these because it's quick.

It's something that, you know, everyone can eat.

- So it's just bread, to start with.

- In Mexico, we call it bolillo, it's a bread that, it has a very hard crust.

It's, it's full of dough.

- You use this for a torta too?

It's the same bread... - Sí, it's the same bread.

- ...for the sandwich?

- What we like from bolillo is the crust.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) So she's adding some bean paste that it's being... (Beatrice speaking Spanish) ...prepared.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) We add the pico de gallo here.

- Chili.

(Beatrice speaking Spanish) - Some fresh cheese.

- Oh, man.

- This is our version of the toast here.

(Maria chuckles) - That bread is really crispy, but it's, it's not heavy inside, it's very light.

- Yeah.

- This is so good.

You can turn off the camera now.

I'm just going to finish this.

(Maria and Beatrice chuckling) (singing continues) ♪ ♪ You know, when I travel, sometimes you come across something you don't expect.

And we stayed at this little hotel in Oaxaca City, and they had great breakfast, and one of them was the molletes, Now, unlike what we just saw, it was little different, it had toasted bread, it wasn't the roll.

Had the black beans, of course.

then it had the melted quesillo cheese, kind of like mozzarella, and the pico de gallo was on top, just fabulous breakfast.

So we're going to do that version now.

- So we're going to make the toppings first, before we toast the bread and start assembling.

And the first thing we're going to make is a fresh-tomato salsa called pico de gallo.

And it gives a, just a bright taste and color to the top of the, the mollete.

The reason we use these and prefer to use these is because the flavor is more consistent, especially in the cold winter months.

Okay, so I'm going to give them a cross cut, like this, just two or three cuts, and then go back and do a rough chop.

They don't have to be perfect or evenly sized at all.

The thing about pico de gallo is you don't want to make it too far ahead, certainly not a day ahead.

You want to make it the day of, that you're going to use it.

- 'Cause it gets very watery?

- Yes.

Oddly enough, the flavor will actually get muddy and a little less intense.

- Hmm.

- Okay, so these are done.

The whole pint becomes more than that when you're chopped.

And as you can see, it's pretty rough chop.

Okay, now we only need about a quarter of a red onion.

We don't want too much onion in the pico de gallo.

It's just enough to add a little bit of flavor.

So I'm going to prep it for chopping, making these vertical cuts, and about-about a quarter inch, maybe, if that's the size of dice you want.

And then I'm going to cut through crosswise.

And I'm going to stop about halfway through, 'cause we only need a quarter onion.

So that's the base.

We'll add a quarter cup of chopped cilantro.

This is half a jalapeño, seeds removed; two teaspoons of vinegar, which is what gives it that little bright taste; teaspoon and a half of olive oil; and a teaspoon of salt.

And we'll just give that a quick stir.

And this is it.

- Mmm.

- Raw salsa.

So this needs to sit for about ten minutes or so to let the flavors meld together and develop, and while we make the black bean puree.

- Okay.

- Okay.

We're going to have two cans of black beans.

So we're going to let those sit and drain for a couple of minutes.

We're going to drain off some of this liquid and use it in the puree.

And now, while that drains, we'll toast the spices.

We have a tablespoon each of coriander and cumin.

We'll put those in together.

We're going to let these toast for about a minute, until you start to smell them get a little fragrant.

While those are toasting, I am going to take these drained black beans, set them aside, and then we're going to measure a quarter cup... Good.

Let's see how these are.

This, of course, you want to keep a good eye on, because we know what happens.

- Because it burns in about ten seconds.

- Yes.

- If you're not careful.

- I think we're good here.

And toasting, obviously, just brings out the flavor.

And it really releases the oils in the spice, and it just gives it a little bit of an extra dimension.

So put it directly into the food processor, which will cool it down also.

We'll take our beans that we've drained.

Okay.

Our quarter cup of liquid.

So we're going to add a little heat with two chipotle chilies in adobo sauce and two teaspoons of the adobo sauce from those chilies.

Two tablespoons of lime juice to give it that little bit of sharpness, which is nice, and a little bit of salt, about a teaspoon.

- I feel like I'm in an operating theater.

Just, just call me nurse.

- Operation-- okay.

(blender whirring) Okay.

Now, we're going to fold in, at the very end, some chopped cilantro.

I like that this makes a good amount of the bean puree, because you're going to want to have this the next day for something else.

We prefer to stir freshly chopped herbs in after the processor rather than putting them into the processor, because this, it preserves their flavor a little bit better.

And we just added half a cup of the laundry.

Okay, we're ready to make the molletes.

♪ ♪ So, Chris, when you had mollete in Oaxaca, you had it on a roll called a bolillo.

We're opting to use supermarket-bakery bread, sliced a half-inch thick, that has a soft interior.

And to get that crustiness as well, we're going to toast it under the broiler.

So we've got the broiler preheating.

We're going to lay the bread out on a piece of foil that's been lightly sprayed.

We're going to brush it with a little bit of olive oil.

Helps it get extra toasty.

And then we're going to sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

We're adding flavor at every stage of this recipe.

So these are going to go under the broiler till they're a nice, golden, toasted brown.

We are going to do about three to five minutes on the first side, then flip them over and another one or two minutes on the second side.

You know, every broiler is different, obviously.

So you want to watch them carefully so they don't burn.

♪ ♪ So, our toast is toasty.

We flipped it back over, so the oil side is up, the seasoned side, and we're going to add about a quarter cup of puree to each slice.

- Now, this is not a little precious bruschetta, with just a little bit of topping.

We're going to have a-a massive amount of topping here, right?

- I mean, it's like cheese toast, but with this delicious black beans under it, it's not massive.

- Substantial.

- Okay, all right, it's substantial.

Would you mind?

- Mm-hmm.

- Yes, thank you.

Like you said, you had this for breakfast in the hotel.

You also could have it for lunch, like you did in the market.

You can have it for an afternoon snack after school or just because you're hungry.

I mean this, this is the type of thing that is an everyday dish in Oaxaca Rather than having the Oaxacan cheese, which is hard to find, we're going to use shredded mozzarella, because it's a very similar type of cheese.

And, like you said, massive amounts of cheese on each toast.

We have a pound of mozzarella here, and we're going to divide it equally between the eight toasts, so that's about two ounces per slice We're going to let this go back in the broiler for about four to six minutes, until it gets melty and toasty.

- Okay.

I just need to say, this is the messiest, most beautiful food we've produced at Milk Street in two years.

- Okay, so while the cheese is warm, fresh cilantro sprinkled over.

All right.

Oh God, these are fun.

All right.

Now, the pico de gallo we transferred to a serving bowl, and we did it with a slotted spoon to take out a little bit of that extra liquid.

Because as it sits, it does accumulate.

Really, a fork?

- Well, yeah, you can do what you want.

- Mm-hmm.

I learned that this way from you.

Mmm.

- Mmm.

- I mean, the beans are amazing and, of course, melted cheese.

But the pico de gallo just gives it that extra layer of punchy brightness, and it just brightens the whole flavor.

- Okay, now you embarrass me.

Here we go.

That is...

This may be my favorite thing I've ever had on one of these trips, it's just so... - Really?

- Well, beans, cheese, you know, toasted bread, and a salsa.

Mmm.

So, molletes, you can use the bread they use for the typical torta, the Mexican sandwiches, or you can use really any kind of bread.

Make sure it's toasted nicely.

Little bit of salt and oil and pepper on top.

And then the black bean, we use canned beans.

And then, of course, the mozzarella or the quesillo, which is very similar.

And a pico de gallo, a salsa, on top.

Very simple ingredients, really four things, and absolutely delicious.

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- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

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To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

- Since 1899 my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes.

Only Mutti.

- Designed by cooks for cooks for over 100 years.

Cookware collection by Regal Ware.

Handcrafted in Wisconsin.

- The AccuSharp knife and tool sharpener, designed to safely sharpen knives in seconds.

AccuSharp: Keep your edge.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪