Inspiration Series: Enchilada Roja Plate

by Farmer's Fridge December 22, 2020

Our Enchilada Roja Plate was inspired by one of our own – Director of Distribution Julian Defranco. Last year at Farmer's Fridge, we held our own version of the popular TV Show Chopped. Chopped is a cooking show on the Food Network where each contestant receives a basket of seemingly impossible-to-combine ingredients and is challenged to devise a dish that features them all. The Farmer’s Fridge version took place at our office, in our test kitchen, and featured 4 of our bravest employees as contestants (as well as 4 employee judges and a host, dressed up as Ted Allen himself). As for the mystery ingredients? Items from Farmer’s Fridge dishes, of course.

Three Farmer’s Fridge employees are sitting at a table cloaked in a black table cloth that says “Farmer’s Fridge”. There’s a whiteboard behind them that reads, “Chopped”.

Julian is the Director of Distribution on our team, meaning he’s the one responsible for getting food from our production facility to our customers, whether that’s a Fridge restocking or home delivery order. But, before Farmer’s Fridge, Julian was in the restaurant business. He worked as a sous chef and purchasing manager at Spiaggia in Chicago for almost 5 years, making him perfectly positioned to be a fierce competitor in our company's Chopped competition.

For his entry, he created a sweet potato enchilada dish that had everyone talking. The mystery ingredients in the pantry box were elote, cheddar cheese, and pineapple, which naturally lent itself to a Mexican-inspired flavor profile. He shared that “I saw some chipotle paste in the pantry and decided ahead of time that that could be a good base. I love the smokey and spicy flavor of chipotle peppers and they pair well with a variety of ingredients. When I got the cheese in the mystery basket, I then remembered we had some Angelic Bakehouse wraps available and I decided to take a chance and make some enchiladas.”

2. Man is carefully decorating three platters of food with a cream sauce before plating his entree.

While Julian didn’t win the competition – that honor went to our Sourcing Manager Margot – his dish was a huge hit with the judges.

When the Menu team was brainstorming ideas for our new heatable Plates category, it was a natural fit to bring back those chipotle-roasted sweet potato enchiladas to the delivery menu. Served over cilantro-lime brown rice and quinoa, fire-roasted corn, black beans, hominy, and topped with salsa roja and crumbled white cheese, this is one dish we've wanted to share with you for a while.

“I'm just happy they turned out okay because I had no backup plan,” says Julian. Our Enchilada Roja Plate is now one of our best-selling dishes – so we’d say they turned out more than just okay.