nomadfood
Saturday, June 11, 2005
tortas ahogadas
this recipe i translated from another webpage. the name means "drowned sandwich," because you will dump sauce over the sandwich until the bread becomes soggy:
you will make two sauces, then mix them according to your ability to tolerate spice.
the first, stew a pound or so of tomatoes in a small amount of water until they are very tender. grind them up along with a clove of garlic. add a few drops of vegetable oil or lard for consistency and salt to taste. boil until it reaches the desired consistency
the second, take 50g (about a handful) of dried chiles arboles, remove the seeds and boil them in a small amount of water until they become very soft and expanded (boiling longer removes the slight bitter taste) grind this mixture up, then pour it through a wire strainer to remove the fibers. boil until the right consistency is achieved. maybe add a pinch of sugar
for the meat, get a pound or so of pork carnitas, season them with salt and pepper, and fry them along with several bay leaves until the outside is browned and some juices have been released. add a bit of water or some of the tomato sauce, lower the heat and cover. cook them until they are very tender. then cut them into fine cubes
now you may assemble the tortas. if you are a true man then you mix together the two sauces you have juste made. if you are a bit more sensible than a true man add a spoonful or so of the spicy one to the tomato one, then leave the rest of the pepper one aside with some onion slices to later add to taste. take a bolillo (sandwich sized french roll, preferably of sourdough), slice it down the middle and remove the soft white flesh of the bread (migajon) to enable more meat to fit inside. stuff the rolls with meat, put each on a plate and dump a liberal amount of the tomato sauce over them. eat with a spoon or your hands.
perhaps lightly toasting the outside of the bread would do good, but i haven't tried this yet, it would be to make them less soggy
