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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Pioneer Woman's Simple, Perfect Enchiladas


Who doesn't already have a gazillion recipes for enchiladas? I do, and I like all of them. So why would I try another one? Seriously, you can only have so many versions for the same item, right? Well, this is one worth trying. Pioneer Woman received this recipe from a family member from Mexico. So they may be more authentic than some of the other recipes you have.

This is another recipe that I looked at and thought I could show Rachel Ray a thing or two about quick food preparation. Um, nope. I had planned to make these to eat (by 6:30 at the latest) before we went to watch my cousin's Special Needs Mutual Roadshow. I got all the way to the assembly point and had to leave. I finished making them when we got home. When did we eat? At 10pm. Needless to say, we were starving. Needless to say, we ate the pan clean. And we were so anxious to eat, I didn't get a single photo. (thus the stock photos from the Internet...) But it isn't only because it was so late and because we were so hungry - these are really good enchiladas. We ate more than we should have, but they were too good to leave anything behind (plus I didn't make any veggies or anything for the side as planned because I was too tired, so all we ate was the enchiladas.) My additions and notes are in italics.

Simple, Perfect Enchiladas

Ingredients:
Sauce
1 T canola oil
2 T flour
1 can (28 oz) enchilada sauce (I used red enchilada sauce, I don't see why you couldn't use green if that is what you prefer.)
2 c (or one can) chicken stock
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 T Cilantro, chopped

The Meat
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
2 cans (4 oz) green chilies
1/2 t salt

The Rest
Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil, for frying
1/2 olives. diced
1 c green onions, chopped
3 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated (I used Pepper Jack Cheese and of course, used a lot more than 3 c)
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions:
Make the sauce: Whisk the oil and flour in a saucepan over medium heat for a minute (until starts to bubble.) Add the enchilada sauce, chicken stock, salt and pepper - do not add the cilantro yet. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer on lowest temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

The meat: Brown the beef. She recommends cooking the onion with the meat while browning. I again don't like my veggies to absorb the fat. So I cook the meat, drain the fat, and then add the onions. Add salt and set aside. At this point, also turn off the heat on the sauce.

The rest: Warm canola oil in a smaller skillet, deep enough to fry the tortillas in. You aren't actually going to fry the tortillas as in to a crisp. Once the oil is hot enough, using tongs, set a tortilla in the oil, the max time I had a tortilla in the oil was five (5) seconds. Lift the tortilla and allow it to drip off excess oil. Set on paper towels. The recipe recommends doing this to all your set aside tortillas before proceeding. Because I do not know how many enchiladas I'll end up making, I went through the assembly process one tortilla at a time. Dip the tortilla in the enchilada sauce, I used my hands and quickly covered both sides. Set the tortilla on a cookie sheet, I lined mine with wax paper because the first stuck so badly. Place a spoon full of meat mixture on one side of the tortilla. The recipe recommends adding the olives and green onions as well, I sprinkle these on the top once everything was in the pan. Not everyone likes olives in our household (crazy, I know.) Top with a good amount of cheese and roll the tortilla around the filling. I don't know about you, but I am notorious for not adding a lot of filling because I worry I won't have enough. I was pretty good this time though. I think I added 2 T filling to each enchilada.

After you have used up all your filling and have filled your dish, add the 2 T chopped cilantro to the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with more cheese, I then sprinkled with the olives and green onions, and sprinkle with the remaining chopped cilantro.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I served with avocado. Also recommend, of course, serve with rice and beans.

We went to bed quickly with our nice full bellies that night.


Enjoy!

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