Enchiladas....

Well, the other night I was in the mood for something full of flavor and with mexican components... the result was an enchiladas casserole of sort. I, my wife, and friends well know when I cook I tend to vary from a recipe a good deal. We found a recipe in an old recipe book that Abbye had from her high school days. I won't bore you with the full details of the recipe from the book, but i will attempt to guide you through my process of cooking.

The recipe called for ground beef, but i substituted chicken. All I had was chicken on the bone so I boiled it and deboned it. I also put plenty of spices in the water to attempt to flavor the chicken. Next the original recipe called for refried beans, and I much prefer blacks beans so you can guess what I did. I mixed the chicken and beans with a sauce concocted from fresh cilantro, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, jalapenos, chili powder, and a taste of sesame oil. I pureed this concoction in a food processor and all three (chicken, beans, and sauce) in a pan to warm everything through and make sure each component got aquatinted with each other.

Next, I spooned this mixture into soft tortilla shells, gave them a simple roll and placed them in a greased casserole pan. Following this I poured a mixture of Velveeta pepper jack (16oz), sour cream (8oz), and maybe 2 oz of milk mixed that and poured on top of the rolled enchiladas. Next I drizzled a tomatillo or salsa verde sauce on top of everything and place it in a 350 degree oven till it started to bubble. I served this with more sour cream, salsa, and chips fro scooping up anything left behind.

I have to say as humbly as possible that it was pretty tasty... maybe the only i would like to try is adding some Rotel to either cheese topping mixture or even the enchilada stuffing.

here a picture of the finished product

(hand model: Matthew Clark)