Cheesy Homemade EnchiladasHappy Cinco De Mayo Tumblrs! Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the Me

Cheesy Homemade Enchiladas

Happy Cinco De Mayo Tumblrs! Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the Mexican defeat of French forces in a clash during the Battle of Puebla in Mexico, in 1862. Mexican Independence Day is September 16. I’ve learned a little bit about Mexico in the past couple years. I live and work in California, and CA used to be part of Mexico. Sometimes when I’m looking at the hillsides, I try to think back hundreds or thousands of years and imagine what it looked like back then. Some of my co-workers are from Mexico and they’re awesome. Some are from Spanish ancestry and some are Indigenous People. Mexican food is amazing, because it’s a mix of so many ingredients and cuisines, going back hundreds and thousands of years. It’s a massive essay to explore all the flavors and influences. My favorite part of the day while working on a landscape, is lunchtime. I usually get steak tacos with all the sauces, and then we sit around and tell stories, before getting back to hard ass work. 

This is a dish which I particularly crave, corn tortilla enchiladas, either stuffed with cheese, black beans, or chicken. I usually don’t get this for lunch at work, because it’s sometimes too messy to get from a carry out place. I also like to make it at home because when you go out, no matter how nice the restaurant is, chances are you aren’t getting organic corn tortillas, and you might even be getting genetically modified corn. So I just make it at home.

I made this for lunch yesterday, and I have leftover sauce so I can make more today. I think I need to make some Taquitos today too, because I have all the ingredients and I need more crunch in my diet. And just fyi, the Vallarta recently started carrying a small selection of organic produce, beans, chicken, and some other products. Yay to not living in a food desert.

I recently started trying to crack the formula of basic enchilada sauce. It’s easier and faster than I thought. Basically you’re cooking a roux, with chili powder, tomato paste and seasonings, adding stock or broth and then stir and thicken.

In a sauce pan or skillet, add 1 tablespoon butter, a drizzle of olive oil, 1 small chopped sweet onionorshallot, 3 to 7 minced garliccloves,saltandpepper. Add 2 tsp all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon tomato paste and let it cook a bit. Add 2 teaspoons chili powder, and 1 additional tsp Ancho chili powder, 1 cup vegetable broth or chicken stock, or wine or water. I also added a spoonful of home made poblano salsa fresca that I made yesterday (optional). Simmer to thicken, blend if you want it nice and smooth. Heat the oven to 400. Roll corn tortillas around cheese, I used mozzarella, but you could use pepper jack or cheddar, or whatever you have. Pour some of the sauce in the bottom of a baking pan, add the rolled enchiladas, cover with more sauce, a little more cheese, and bake until bubbly. Yum! Serve with margaritas and beer, and a salad dressed with lime juice and olive oil.