When I want to make something, for instance….red enchilada sauce….and I have yet to concoct a recipe to call my own, I look through my gazillion cookbooks (yes I need a gazillion because yes, I use every single one of them! If not for recipes than for inspiration). I like to check out what different takes there are, pull what I like, leave what I don’t and ultimately come up with a recipe that has been inspired by a handful of cooks.
That is what I did tonight. I knew that I wanted a red enchilada sauce. Anytime I have to study anything, I am a happy nerd, I mean girl. So I run to my bookcase full of delicious cookbooks and I start looking in my go-to’s which are the Bon Appetit duet my lovely mother-in-law got me one year for Christmas. I pull some ideas, such as a pinch of cinnamon. Yum. Then, my eye catches an oldie, but a goodie. It was one of those cookbooks I inherited from my mother when she moved out of our childhood home and was done with a lot of her stuff. Downsizing if you will. This book is so old the spine is ripping and the pages are smudged. The cover is straight out of the 1950s (copyright says 1955). The book: Elena’s Fiesta Recipes. Perfection. Let’s party, Elena style. Actually, I am not following her “Enchiladas Senora Style” recipe exactly, but I am taking it as my inspiration. Whoever Elena is, I am almost certain she rocks fiestas!
This recipe is super simple, fast and delicious. Add a side garden salad and some refried beans to make it complete. I very rarely cook with ground beef. In fact, ONLY when I can find organic on sale. I refuse to let my loved ones eat pink slime. So I just happened to find a 1 lb package of organic ground beef on clearance and wanted to get it out of my freezer. I have some home-made quality corn tortillas and some sharp cheddar. I also knew that I did not want it as spicy as I normally like it as the kids will be dining on this feast. For a super simple substitute, instead of frying up some ground beef, pick up a rotisserie chicken and just use already cooked and spiced shredded chicken. This comes together quick and bakes beautifully. Make the sauce the weekend before and just take it out the night you come home from work.
Just a second while I step up on this soapbox. Alright, let me just bring us all back to an organic awareness. If you haven’t read my write-up on Buying Organic, I strongly suggest you do. I have tips on what is priority if you are unable to afford a full grocery cart of organic products as well as food saving ideas to be able to afford organic products. For this meal, I am using an organic onion, organic garlic, organic beef broth, the dried seasonings, organic beef and serving it with organic sour cream and organic cilantro. What is not organic is the can of crushed tomatoes (although I do not by the cheapest, I look at the ingredients and make sure I can pronounce all 2 of the ingredients: tomatoes and citric acid), cheese, tortillas and sunflower oil. Do what you can, even if you just substitute one ingredient for rganic, you rock!
Gracias Elena, queen of fiestas! Happy cooking friends…
Ingredients
1 lb organic ground beef, rotisserie chicken or cubed pork
1 small or 1/2 large organic onion, finely chopped
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
1 cup beef or chicken broth
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 1/2 tablespoon ground ancho chili pepper (or chili powder)
1 teaspoon each salt and garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground Saigon cinnamon (or cinnamon or cardamom)
about 9-11 tortillas
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Sour cream
chopped cilantro
Preparation
- In a fry pan on medium-high heat, cook meat, breaking up ground beef into small pieces, if that is your meat of choice. Using the lid to the fry pan, drain fat.
I find that a potato masher works well to initially break up the ground beef.
- Return pan and meat back to the stove on medium heat, add onion. Cook until onions are done, about 5-7 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a food processor process tomatoes, garlic, broth, oil and seasonings. Pulse until smooth. Pour about a cup of the sauce into a shallow dish.
- To help make the corn tortillas a bit more malleable: heat corn oil on medium heat, in a fry pan and fry the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side. Stack on a plate lined with a few paper towels, sprinkle with a little kosher salt.
- in a 9×13 baking dish, pour about 1/2 cup of sauce onto the bottom and smear until the bottom of the dish has a thin layer of sauce. Dip both sides of the tortillas into the sauce in the shallow dish before adding to the baking dish so that they are nicely coated and in turn have flavor. Add about 3/4 cup of beef/onion mixture and sprinkle with a little cheese in each tortilla, in all using about 1/2 cup. Roll tortilla so that the seam is on the bottom so they will remain closed during the baking process. Repeat until beef mixture is done.
- Pour remaining sauce evenly over the filled tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until cooked through about 20-30 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream and cilantro, side of refried beans and something green like a nice, fresh garden salad.
High Altitude Adjustment
- None
Compost
- Onion, garlic and cilantro trimmings
Recycle
- Cheese bag, tomato can/lid
Reuse
- If you find that you made a lot of sauce, too much for this dish, freeze some for a later time!
- Plastic bags vegetables came in
Naturally Green Cooking 