Recipes Chilaquiles with Pasilla Salsa & Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms Be the first to rate & review! In Mexico, cooks serve this quick casserole of fried tortillas and salsa as a brunch dish with eggs. Alex Stupak omits the eggs and instead combines hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with a spicy, rich salsa made from pasilla chiles, resulting in a light but satisfying vegetarian main course. Plus: More Brunch RecipesRecipe from Food & Wine America's Greatest New Cooks By Alex Stupak Alex Stupak Won Best New Chef At Empellón Cocina, Empellón Taqueria, New York City Why He’s Amazing Because despite the critical acclaim he received for his modernist desserts at some of the country’s top restaurants, Stupak has traded in his pastry tools to make extraordinary tacos. Born 1980; Leominster, MA Culinary School The Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY) Background WD~50 (New York City); Alinea (Chicago); The Federalist, Clio (Boston) Quintessential Dish Tacos of beer-braised tongue with árbol chile salsa On Opening a Mexican Restaurant “Here’s the story: A pastry chef likes Mexican food, has never cooked it, but decides to do it anyway.” Essential Ingredient Empellón Taqueria goes through more than 250 avocados each day to make its excellent guacamole. First Job Prep cook at Bobby Chic’s Italian Café in his hometown of Leominster, Massachusetts. “I’d clean all the equipment, peel potatoes, make piccata butter. I’ve come a long way.” Secret Skill “I’m a really really really good omelet maker. I’m awesome at three-fold French omelets. But I also cooked at Denny’s, and that’s not how they make them there. Put it this way: If my two restaurants tanked—if this Mexican restaurant thing doesn’t work out—I could get a job at a diner and slay it.” Inspirations Grant Achatz and Wylie Dufresne. “I hold them both as personal models. But before I worked with either of them, the person I idolized the most was Albert Adrià. I got a copy of his pastry book, Los Postres De El Bulli as a gift. I became obsessed with the book. I would come in to Clio on my days off so I could make recipes from it.”Story of Discovery “I knew that Alex Stupak was a pastry genius from the desserts he made at Manhattan’s WD-50 and Chicago’s Alinea. So I was surprised when he opened a taqueria—especially because he had no Mexican cooking experience. Stupak is an exacting chef, though, and I should’ve known that Empellón Taqueria and the more ambitious Empellón Cocina would be sensational. Stupak makes the best salsa I’ve ever had, blending smoked cashews and chipotle, and also my new favorite guacamole, studded with sea urchin so it’s extra-luscious. He brings equal ingenuity to tacos stuffed with ingredients like house-brined short rib pastrami. ‘It’s reverse colonization,’ he says. ‘It’s what happens when Mexico settles in New York.’”—Kate Krader Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on May 30, 2017 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Christina Holmes Active Time: 45 mins Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins Yield: 4 to 6 Ingredients 4 pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded (see Note) 4 plum tomatoes 4 unpeeled garlic cloves 1/4 cup canola oil Kosher salt Freshly ground pepper 1/2 pound hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (maitake), separated into bite-size pieces One 13-ounce bag corn tortilla chips, crushed into 1/2-inch pieces Crumbled queso fresco, Mexican crema (or sour cream) and chopped white onion and cilantro, for garnish Directions Preheat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle. Add the pasillas and toast over high heat, pressing them down with a spatula and turning once, until pliable and fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the pasillas to a heatproof bowl and cover with 2 cups of hot water. Let stand for about 30 minutes, until the pasillas are completely rehydrated. Meanwhile, in the same skillet, roast the tomatoes and garlic over high heat until charred, about 12 minutes. Transfer the rehydrated pasillas to a blender and add 1 cup of their soaking liquid. Puree until smooth, then strain through a coarse sieve into a bowl. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the pasilla puree and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until deep red and reduced nearly to a paste, about 15 minutes. Peel the roasted garlic and add it to the blender along with the tomatoes. Puree until smooth, then strain through a coarse sieve into the skillet with the pasilla paste; bring to a boil. Simmer the salsa over moderately low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm. In another large skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the pasilla salsa and bring to a simmer. Add the crushed tortilla chips and cook, tossing, for 3 minutes. Transfer the chilaquiles to a platter or plates and garnish with queso fresco, crema and chopped onion and cilantro. Serve right away. Notes Pasillas are long, black dried chiles with a fruity, herbaceous flavor. They are available at Latin markets. Rate it Print