Living
Dangerously
Ellen Simper
January 2006
"What do you call this?" The question from my father-in-law caught me
off-guard, interrupting thoughts on the very subject of how my dinner's
offering and results was tasting to me. I laughed at the question. Since
he eats once a week with us and once a week with his other son and
daughter-in-law, who is a GREAT cook, I am somewhat defensive about my
culinary skills or lack thereof. My husband has been a good sport over the
years, to have consumed many less than stellar offerings of a culinary
nature. Unfortunately, his mother was also a great cook. Her 18 years
cooking influence on her son has never been diminished by the 40 years he
has been subjected to my adventurous cooking.
When you make a paste of flour and water (the very ingredients for glue) and
then cook it, quite a bit of cuisine-ly machinations has to take place
before it can be called "somewhat tasty." If coming times are going to be
trying, it won't hurt to have a modicum of ingredients to spice it up, to
make a paste of flour and water taste decent.
With that said, I was in a reverie of thought about how this particular
repast was tasting and wondering how "the guys" were receiving the
impressions in their mouths. I was thinking that what I had made seemed a
little thick and gummy and that I hadn't added enough chile seasoning to
compensate for what other virtues the food lacked in taste.
I had started with some chicken stock, a good beginning and enhancement to
flour and water paste. There was some onion flavor, which argument with my
children always ends in a stalemate - but I don't like onion - it's only
there for flavor, you don't even see any chunks - but I don't like the
flavor - but it makes it taste better - whatever, whatever! I added a
smidgeon of butter, always a flavor enhancer. I tried not to go overboard
on the salt – salt can be redemptive with flour and water but can be its
downfall if too salty. Then there was a can of green chile, some plain
yogurt for tang and smoothness – it would have been better with sour cream,
the complete and intact kind of sour cream, as opposed to fat free sour
cream, designated as whole wheat sour cream at our house. Plain yogurt can
be considered whole wheat sour cream but it does help to improve flour and
water paste.
There was the assembling of the cooked, enhanced paste, combining it with
cheese, tortillas, chicken breast pieces, onions on the guy's concoction,
not on mine (the onion debate does not apply to raw onions – there IS no
debate) and out of the self-doubting consumption of my portion, I hear "What
do you call this?" I laughed but didn't want him to think I was laughing at
him, so I explained. This is my version of Sonoran-style layered
enchiladas, made with green chile white sauce (a fancy name for cooked flour
and water paste), instead of making them with red chile sauce. When I went
on to comment on the seasoning and thickness and the changes I make to an
old, established favorite, he went for the jugular - "You like to live
dangerously, don't you." Yes, I certainly live on the edge in all respects.
When I was protesting too much, he did say that it tasted good! The dear
man.
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