Name: Ranchero Armada
Address: Beştepe, Dumlupınar Blv. No:6 B Blok 2A, Yenimahalle, Ankara, 06560, TR
Telephone: (0312) 315 25 06
Rating: 3.9

Türkiye

Turkey

Ankara

Yenimahalle

Ranchero Armada

A tortilla folded over melting cheese and heated on a comal until the cheese runs and the outside blisters: the quesadilla is the simplest thing in the Mexican antojito repertoire and one of the most argued over. The name comes from queso, and in most of Mexico cheese is the defining ingredient, with Oaxaca string cheese, Chihuahua or asadero the usual choices because they melt into threads rather than oil. Mexico City is the exception that fuels the argument: there a quesadilla is a folded, often deep-fried corn pocket filled with squash blossom, mushrooms, tinga or huitlacoche, and cheese is something you ask for. North of the border and in Tex-Mex kitchens the quesadilla became a large flour tortilla sandwiched flat with cheese and cut into wedges, which is a fair snack but a different object.

The traditional version starts with fresh masa pressed into a tortilla, filled while raw, folded into a half-moon and cooked on the comal so the dough sets around the filling and the cheese melts inside its own steam. With a ready-made corn tortilla, the disc is warmed first so it bends without cracking, then filled, folded and toasted on both sides over medium heat until the surface is spotted brown and the cheese has fully melted; a lid or a splash of water speeds this. Flour tortillas, standard in the north, want slightly higher heat and a little fat on the comal so they crisp. Fillings beyond cheese are added cooked and warm, in small amounts, so the tortilla seals. The fried quesadilla of the capital goes into hot oil folded and sealed, two or three minutes until golden, then drains on paper.

Judge a quesadilla on the pull: cheese should stretch when the halves are separated and hold in strings, not slide out as a puddle or sit in an unmelted block. The tortilla should be hot through, with browned spots and a surface that is pliable at the fold and crisp at the edges; a pale, steamed, floppy tortilla or a cracked, dry one are both faults. Fillings should be hot and seasoned but subordinate to the cheese and the corn. Mark down processed cheese that goes rubbery as it cools, oil pooling on the plate, cold centres, and a griddled flour tortilla cut into triangles sold as the real thing in a Mexican-themed menu. Salsa verde, crema and pickled chiles are the right companions, and a quesadilla eaten standing at the comal is at its best within a minute of leaving it.

Quesadilla

Enchiladas rancheras are corn tortillas dipped in hot oil, rolled around a filling, usually cheese or shredded chicken, and covered in salsa ranchera, a cooked sauce of roasted tomato, onion, garlic and green chile with a little cumin and oregano, finished with crumbled queso fresco, crema and raw onion. The name points to the sauce, not a region: ranchera means ranch-style, and the tomato-and-chile sauce it names is the everyday one of northern and central Mexico, the same salsa that goes over huevos rancheros. Within the enchilada family it sits between the rojas, built on dried chiles, and the verdes, built on tomatillo, and it is milder and sweeter than either because fresh tomato carries it. In Mexico it is a home and fonda dish served two or three to a plate with beans and rice; in Tex-Mex restaurants it has become a tray dish baked under melted cheese, which is a different thing.

The sauce is made first: ripe tomatoes, white onion, garlic and serrano or jalapeño chiles are charred on a comal or under a flame until blistered, blended with a little stock or water, then fried in a spoon of lard or oil for ten minutes until it thickens and darkens, seasoned with salt, a pinch of cumin and dried oregano. The tortillas are the step people skip: each one is passed through hot oil for a few seconds on both sides, long enough to soften and seal it so it does not fall apart in the sauce, then drained. It is filled with crumbled queso fresco or Oaxaca cheese and a little onion, or with shredded poached chicken, rolled, and laid on the plate; the hot sauce is spooned over to coat, and the top is finished with more queso fresco, a drizzle of crema, sliced onion and sometimes a few rings of chile. They are served at once, not baked.

Judge the tortilla before anything else: it should be soft and pliable, tasting of corn, holding its roll and neither cracked and dry nor dissolved into mush, which means it was fried properly. The sauce should be a deep red-orange, lightly thick, tasting of roasted tomato with a clear green-chile heat and not of tinned tomato or raw cumin; it should coat the enchiladas and pool only slightly. The cheese should be fresh, white, salty and crumbly, the crema thin and sour. Mark down tortillas that have gone to paste, a sauce that is watery or sweet, a flour tortilla used in place of corn, a plate buried under melted yellow cheese and baked until the edges have hardened, chicken that is dry and unseasoned, and sour cream from a tub in place of crema. Two enchiladas with beans and rice is a plate; six under a cheese blanket is a casserole.

Enchiladas rancheras

Ben pek beğenmedim. Tadı biberli ekmeğin arasına hatay usulü tavuk döner sarılması gibiydi. Ekmek hamurlaşmış gibiydi. Pilav pek lezzetli değildi. Soslar ehhti ama tabağımı bitirdim. Çok acı bir yemek zaten menüde biber uyarısı vardı. Restoran güzel renkli kovboy şapkaları falan var. Garsonlar cana yakındı.

Meksika restaurantı olarak gayet güzeldi. Yemekler, ambiyans ve garsonların ilgisi gayet iyiydi. Gelmenizi öneririm.

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