Cinco de Mayo Enchiladas con Camarón y Carne de cangrejo… (To us Gringos, that’s Shrimp and Crabmeat Enchiladas)

         Cinco de Mayo is upon us.  It’s a once-a-year opportunity to salute Mexico with a purely American excuse to consume copious pitchers of Margaritas, mountains of tortilla chips and oceans of salsa.  Last year, I posted a recipe for Enchiladas Suizas, a wonderful gooey, cheese-y dish full of chicken in a cream sauce and then topped still more cheese and salsa verde.  It went on to become the single most popular post in the history of Chewing the Fat.  Today it stands at a whopping 2565 hits!  If you want a look at what so many people have been looking at, here’s the link: http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2011/05/enchiladas-suizas-with-mexican-cole.html

A lot prettier than mine,
these Enchiladas come from
a very surprising place

         I couldn’t very well rest on my laurels and not send you something equally delicious for this year’s Fiesta –which is tomorrow in case your Spanish is truly non-existent.  And I was very pleased when I found a recipe for some wonderful soft flour tortillas stuffed with pan-fried shrimp, tender sweet crabmeat, mild green onions and melted Monterey Jack cheese.  The soft tortillas are then put in the oven and baked in a bath of mildly spicy salsa verde and still more cheese.  They emerge from the oven piping hot.  And once put on plates, they’re topped with sour cream and more green onions. The combination makes every bite a delicious mix of seafood and tangy sauce, warm cheese and cool sour cream.  I just wish my photograph looked as good as these tasted.  I think I might even go so far as to suggest chopping some tomatoes and sprinkling those on top for color.  Or perhaps you can be as neat as the one pictured here, whose visual of the dish puts mine to shame.  What’s done here is to artfully spoon extra salsa over the baked enchilada for a much nicer presentation.  And where did this artistry in Enchiladas come from?  Why Fayetteville, West Virginia, of course, a hot bed of Mexican Cuisine!  Not exactly. But Diogi’s at 312 N. Court St. (Tel:(304) 574 3647) looks like where I head for Cinco de Mayo if I found myself in Fayetteville.   

         Diogi’s didn’t’ provide this recipe.  I worked with one on-line and this is where I ended up.  It’s very easy to do –takes all of 15 minutes of prep and bakes for 45 so it’s on the table in an hour—or just enough time to enjoy another Margarita while dinner is cooking.  Here’s the recipe which is for 6 servings. 

         12 (8 inch) flour tortillas

         8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

         1 /2 lb lump crab meat, drained

         1 pound cooked medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

         1 (15 ounce) can green enchilada sauce

         1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

         1 bunch green onions, chopped and divided so that half go in the filling and       half as a garnish for the finished dish.

1.            Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.        In a small saute pan, cook the shrimp in a little butter, salt and pepper.

2.            Lay tortillas on a flat surface. In the middle of each tortilla place equal amounts of cheese, crab, and shrimp.
        Add half the green onions. Set aside some cheese to sprinkle on top of the tortillas. Roll the tortillas to form enchiladas. Arrange side by side in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

3.            Pour green enchilada sauce over all of the enchiladas; the green sauce should cover the enchiladas completely. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the enchiladas.

4.            Cover, and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove cover, and continue baking 15 minutes. Top enchiladas with sour cream and green onions to serve.