I’ve been doing a little Tex/Mex stuff in the kitchen. I’m slowly coming around to South of the Border dishes, and I actually prefer my own recipes to those of the restaurants. Refried beans, for example, is not my idea of human food. Dogs, maybe, but not humans.
Anyway, I whipped up a Mexican dish called Beef Enchiladas that actually passed the “Nancy Test.” If my wife, Nancy, eats one of my dishes and compliments me, it passes the “Nancy Test”. But not only did she give me a thumbs up on my version of Beef Enchiladas, she actually took some of the leftovers to work with her the next day – the ultimate compliment.
For me, one of the hardest parts about Mexican cuisine has been learning the terminology, the difference, for example between a quesadilla and an enchilada. For the record, Mexicans describe an enchilada as a corn tortilla with a filling and a sauce on top. The filling can be anything the heart desires from vegetables to rice and fish and meats. The sauce is more or less a standard enchilada sauce with various degrees of spiciness.
So there, now we both know.
Here’s how I put my Nancy-approved enchiladas together.
I started with a few chopped onions, diced red peppers and a can of mild, chopped green chiles, sautéing the. ingredients for a few minutes in a little olive oil. Next I added a pound of really lean ground beef – 93/7. I cooked the beef until browned and added a couple T of taco sauce and let simmer for a few more minutes. That was the filling.
I spread ten 6-inch tortillas, added ¼ C of the filling and 1 T cheese. I rolled the tortillas tightly and placed them seam down into a 13×9 baking dish, covered them with a 10-oz. can of enchilada sauce, a C of the Mexican cheese and finished the dish with some finely chopped green onions. Bake in a 375 oven for about 20/25 minutes and serve with sour cream, guacamole and, other traditional Mexican toppings.
Nancy-Approved Beef Enchiladas
1 T olive oil
1/2 t red bell pepper
1/2 sweet onion
1 can mild green chiles
3 T taco sauce
1 lb. 93/7 ground beef
1 1/2 C Mexican blend cheese
10 6-inch corn tortillas
1 10-oz. can red enchilada sauce
3 green onions