Enchiladas

I never seem to have store-bought enchilada sauce when I need it, so I've experimented with making it myself an awful lot. And now, I think I've finally got it how I like it. This might not be how they do it in Mexico, but I'm in Virginia, so that's how I feel about that.  

If you don't have enough tortillas, then instead of rolling the meat up in them, you can create a casserole with layers of tortillas, meat, and cheese. I typically find that I am short on tortillas, so it's a nice way to use them up. Also, flour tortillas are fine, but corn tortillas REALLY make this dish a winner because they are infinitely more flavorful. On the other hand, corn tortillas are tiny and harder to roll, so they work better for me in casserole form. One last note -- when I make enchiladas, I typically make one for that night, and one to stick in the freezer for a fast dinner when I don't feel like cooking, so the recipe makes a lot of food.

Enchilada Sauce 

Makes 1 9x13 pan and 1 8x8 pan. Use a pie pan if you want to. Casseroles can come in any form you want them to!

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ sweet onion, finely chopped

1 ½ quarts crushed tomatoes

1 ½ tsp. cumin

1 ½ tsp. chili powder

Dash of oregano

Dash of parsley

Sprinkle of cinnamon (do NOT be heavy handed!)

5 oz. of tomato paste, for thickness

2 TBSP white vinegar

Brown garlic and onion in the oil in a pot over medium. When onions are clear and browning, mix in tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, oregano, parsley, cinnamon, some tomato paste, and vinegar. Use as much tomato paste as you need to thicken it. Bring mixture to a boil, and then turn down to simmer on low as you make the enchilada meat.

Enchiladas

1 lb. sausage 

1 lb. ground beef

Cumin

Chili powder 

Water

1 oz. or so tomato paste (reserve some from the enchilada sauce)

Some leftover crushed tomatoes (enough to make it look tomato-y)

Enchilada sauce

Cheeses, shredded - use cheese to taste. Monterey Jack and Mild Cheddar are my favorites here.

Beans are optional. Refried black beans would be my choice if I was throwing them in a layer.

Make the sauce in a small pot. While it's simmering, brown the meat in a pan. Drain fat. Turn down heat to a simmer, and add in cumin and chili powder to flavor the meat a bit. Add in the tomato paste and some leftover crushed tomato to make it tomato-y. Then throw in some cheese, stir until it melts, and turn it off. 

Turn on the oven to 375 degrees.

Arrange the tortillas, meat, and sauce altogether in an assembly line to make it easy to put together next to your casserole dishes (1 9x13 and 1 8x8 or so)

For a casserole-style, throw enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pans so tortillas don't stick. Layer tortillas in the bottom. Add a meat layer next, and then sauce on top of that. You can add cheese now if you want to, or to make it a little less fatty, don't. Add another layer of tortilla, meat, sauce, (cheese). Finish it off with more tortillas if you have extras. Top with sauce and cheese for the top. If you ran out of tortillas, you can leave it at 2 layers of tortillas.

For rolled enchiladas, put enchilada sauce in bottom of pans so tortillas don't stick. Fill tortillas with a little meat and then lay in bottom of pan with seam on the bottom. Do this until you run out of tortillas, and pack them in. Throw sauce over the top and then cheese, and bake.

Bake both for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. And enjoy!