Inspiration Series: Enchilada Roja Plate
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.

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.”

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.