Enchilada potosina by Edgar Rico

Name: Enchilada potosina by Edgar Rico
Prep time: 75 s
Cook time: 120 s
Total time: 195 s
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Black beans; Onions; Garlic; Cumin; Ground cinnamon; Duck fat; Salt; Yukon gold potato; Chorizo; Roma tomato; Onions; Oregano; Canola oil; Salt; Garlic

08 Jan 2025

Edgar Rico

Chef

Difficulty

Intermediate

Total Time

3H 15MIN

Cuisine

Mexican

American

Ingredients

Black beans: 1 1/4 lbs

Onions: 1

Garlic: 1/2 clove 

Cumin: 1/2 tbs

Ground cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Duck fat: 1 cup

Salt: 1 tbs

Yukon gold potato: 2 lbs

Chorizo: 1/2 lb

Roma tomato: 2 1/2

Onions: 1/2

Oregano: 1/2 tbs

Canola oil: 1/2 cup

Salt: 1/2 tbs

Garlic: 1/2 clove

Try this recipe for enchilada potosina from Nixta Taqueria in Austin, Texas, for a delicious, elevated approach to Mexican American cuisine

How to make enchilada potosina (for 10 tacos)

01.

For the duck fat refried beans

Soak your beans overnight submerged in water. Next day, drain and rinse your beans.
In a rondeau, sauté onions and garlic until softened, add your spices and sauté until aromatic, add your beans and cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until tender. Drain beans but make sure to reserve the cooking liquid.
In a rondeau add your beans and emulsify with duck fat and some of the cooking liquid with a stick blender. Cool beans and add to quart containers.

02.

For the potato and chorizo puree

Add potato whole to a high rimmed pot, top with cold water until submerged. Begin to boil water, and cook until tender (20-30 mins).
Add chorizo to a skillet and cook until fat has rendered and chorizo is fully cooked.
Once potatoes are cooked mash with a masher and combine with chorizo.

03.

For the roasted tomato salsa

Cut and quarter onion and tomatoes.
In a saucepan add canola oil and simmer onions and tomatoes until softened. Cool mixture down.
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until emulsified.

04.

To serve

Fry a tortilla in canola oil (not all the way crispy, just a little bite to it).
Heat the duck fat refried beans and put a tablespoon of it on the base of the tortilla.
Add a scoop of potato and chorizo puree.
Put a layer of shredded purple cabbage on top.
Drizzle the roasted tomato salsa in a zigzag on the top.
Dust the top with queso enchilado (or any kind of dry, salty parmesan-like cheese).

08 Jan 2025

The Chef

Edgar Rico grew up in California’s Central Valley, and would regularly visit Mexico with his family. At 17, he found work in the kitchen of a local steakhouse, where the chef encouraged him to apply to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After completing his externship at Craft in LA, he joined the opening team at Son of a Gun, a new LA seafood restaurant created by award-winning chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook. Then he helped the pair, with chef Ludo Lefebvre, open Trois Mec, a new concept focusing on French ‘bistronomy.’ Next came a period at hip brunch joint Sqirl with chef Jessica Koslow. After six years in LA, Rico left to travel around Mexico, on a journey that included a stint at legendary fine-dining restaurant Pujol. In 2016, Rico moved to Austin, Texas, where he met his partner Sara Mardanbigi, with whom he opened Nixta Taqueria in 2019.

In 2022, Rico won a James Beard Emerging Chef Award and was featured in TIME100 Next, which recognizes rising stars in different industries around the world. He went on to win a StarChefs Rising Star Award in 2023, also being named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs.

Restaurant

Rico and Mardanbigi opened Nixta Taqueria on Austin’s East 12th Street in October 2019, and it rapidly became a hit among food critics and locals, with a queue frequently stretching around the block. Nixta is known for its imaginative, vegetable-forward menu and its artisanal approach to tostadas and tacos. Rico uses heirloom corn from Mexico to prepare his tortillas, and the process of nixtamalization (a traditional way of preparing the maize) that gives the taqueria its name is carried out in-house.

In 2020, Nixta was recognized by Food & Wine magazine as one of the Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America.

It is popular not only for the food, but also for the role it plays in the local community. Nixta’s large outdoor space is used for pop-ups and performances by staff and community members, and was also the pilot location for the ATX Free Fridge Project, set up during the pandemic to help people facing food insecurity. This willingness to go the extra mile for the local community was repaid in 2023 when Nixta was forced to shut down pending significant electrical repairs, with local donors rapidly contributing over $100,000 to a GoFundMe page to finance the renovation.

Recipes and dishes

Nixta’s trademark tortilla flavor begins with the heirloom corn it uses, which is sourced from a farm in Oaxaca and nixtamalized in-house. But what Nixta really stands out for is the creativity of the vegetable-forward fillings used in its tacos and tostadas.

One signature dish is the enchilada potosina taco, which was inspired by the love story of Rico’s parents in their hometown of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The white corn masa for the tortilla is infused with guajillo chili, topped with duck-fat-refried heirloom black beans and a rich potato puree with savory chorizo, then garnished with shredded purple cabbage and plenty of mature cheese.

Specialties like this have helped spread Rico’s reputation far and wide. He has cooked for celebrities from President Obama to Jay-Z and Beyoncé, and Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway became a fan when she visited Nixta after a movie premiere.

But Rico is not the only one making great tacos in Austin. He is part of an informal ‘Taco Mafia’—including Nixta, Cuantos Tacos, and Discada—who support the local community and each other. The protagonists of the Taco Mafia are the stars of an eponymous eight-part documentary series launched in October 2023 on Austin PBS.

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