Superbowl Bites: Pulled Pork Nachos

Nachos are another go to game food for me.

Actually when we go to the bar to watch any sport, I always crave nachos.  The problem is the boy always wants wings, hence the Buffalo Chicken Nachos I made last year.  They were delicious, but this year was all about taking one dish and turning it into a couple of different things. 

That's where these nachos come in.  I had the Beer Braised Pulled Pork leftover, so why not turn it into a delicious tray of nachos?

Tortilla Soup

Cooking the new house has been great and also a bit of an adventure.

Great because I'm really enjoying all of the new to me that is the kitchen.

An adventure because just when I think I've unpacked and put away all of my tools and pantry items, I reach for something that is so not there.  Like with the cornstarch I swore I had last night until I reached for it and remembered running out of it before we moved AND decided to wait until we moved to buy more.  Too bad I didn't remember that until I absolutely needed it.  

Yeah, that was fun.

Or not.

Leftover Chicken Enchiladas

Even when I'm not going to an office job and working in the traditional sense of the word, running two blogs, caring for the pups, house stuff and working on other passion projects tends to make for very full days.  Days where between photographing various different dishes, coming up with recipes and dealing with needy pups, the last thing I want to do is think about dinner.  I'm pretty certain everyone out there, no matter your situation feels that way, some more often than others. Since there are only 2 of us, many dishes that I do make leave us with leftovers and while I will often happily eat some of them for lunch I can't eat the same thing more than two days in a row, I just get too bored. In case it wasn't evident with 2 different food blogs, variety in my food is important to me.  I have friends who cook on the weekend and will eat the same thing almost every day for the week.  I know when working and doing all other kinds of extracurriculars that can be an easy and logical answer, but I just can't do that.  So regardless of whether I'm doing No ReEATS or not, I always go out of my way to reinvent any leftovers so we are eating different things.

Pickled Red Onions

I first had pickled onions when I lived in LA.  They are often served with carnitas tacos and after first having them I became mildly obsessed with their tanginess.  If a dish on a menu called for the onions it was pretty much a guarantee I'd order them.  Since I moved up to Toronto they don't appear on menus quite as much, so I learned to make them.  I first made them a couple years a go when I threw a Mexican Fiesta Birthday for a good friend.  I made them again last year for my own Mexican Fiesta Birthday.  I haven't made tacos at home in awhile and while I was prepping all of the other ingredients I decided to throw these together.  They are so easy to make and if you have canning jars kicking around they look great and will keep really well.

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla with Green Apple Salsa

The other night I cooked some chicken in the slow cooker.  Slow cooked chicken shreds beautifully and one batch made enough for me to use in at least two recipes.  One was a quick and easy stew, the other was these quesadillas.  I contemplated many ideas for the chicken stir fried with noodles, chicken salad but ultimately landed on quesadilla because I love them and knew I'd be able to make use of some things I already had in the pantry. Specifically a bottle of BBQ sauce I got in the gift bag at the 2009 FoodBuzz blogger festival and a massive bag of green apple I bought at the store the other day.  I know, I know who holds onto a freebie like that for so long?  Honestly I forgot I had it and when I was going through the pantry looking for something I found this cute little bottle of Napa Valley BBQ with Maple and Horseradish.  I knew it would go great with some smokey cheddar and the maple flavor work work well with an apple salsa.

Meatless Monday: Quick Cheese Enchiladas

This week's Meatless Monday came about simply by trying to use items I had in the house as well as fulfilling a craving for Mexican.  While cleaning the pantry I found a can of chopped tomatoes, with onions, garlic & green pepper.  While I usually prep everything from scratch, this is a short cut that makes sense every so often and absolutely came in handy since I wanted a quick and easy lunch.  This little can of tomatoes would be the perfect base for a spicy Enchilada sauce, especially when paired with some of the various chili powders I have collected.

Living in LA and having tons of great Mexican at my fingertips I grew to love it.  Unfortunately good Mexican is few and far between in Toronto, especially because a burrito us generally my last choice when I have a craving.  It can be found, but not easily in my neighborhood.  As a result I am constantly looking to fill my cravings for it at home.  If I'm out of good corn tortillas and don't feel like driving downtown, I make my own.  It's time consuming, but oh so worth it.  Luckily for this dish I had the tortillas on hand, because making my own would take the quick out of the equation in this one.

After I made the pumpkin puree for my Thanksgiving pie, I tossed the pumpkin seeds with olive oil, sea salt and smoked paprika.  They are delicious and I knew the subtle heat and crunch would be perfect with the spicy savory enchiladas , so I sprinkled a couple tablespoons atop the enchiladas before baking.

Chicken & Roasted Yam Quesadilla

This is another great dish made from leftovers and pantry staples. I roast a chicken once every few weeks and/or we buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store. Either way we usually only eat the chicken as is for one meal, more often than not leaving us with leftovers. Sometimes the boy will make a sandwich with what's left, or I'll make chicken salad but very often I like to try to get creative with the leftover chicken. It's not only packed full of great roasted flavor, but it also makes for a quick and easy meal during the week.

It's no secret I love Mexican food, so we will often have tortillas around. While whole wheat tortillas aren't exactly authentic especially not the ones our grocery store has, they are a staple. Along with a recent find of a great fresh salsa that has awesome fresh flavor and is great on chips or eggs or just about anything. So on yet another week when Mama Earth sent us organic yams, I took what we had on hand and threw together this tasty quesadilla.

Chicken & Roasted Yam Quesadillas
serves 4

2 organic yams - sliced into 1/4" rounds
2 Tbsp or more extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
2 chicken breasts - great use of leftovers.
8 whole wheat tortillas
3 cups finely grated aged white cheddar or smoked cheddar
3/4 cup fresh salsa - bought from the produce section of the grocery store
cooking spray
sour cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Toss yam rounds in olive oil, salt & pepper and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Roast for 20-30 minutes until tender and golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Lower oven heat to 350F.
2. If you are using leftover, already cooked chicken skip to step 3. If you are using uncooked chicken breasts, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle salt & pepper all over chicken. Place in heated skillet and cook for 10-15 minutes, turning every five minutes until chicken is cooked.
3. Shred cooked chicken and return to skillet with salsa. Let simmer over low heat until everything is heated and you are ready to use it.
4. Spray a small skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Place one tortilla in skillet and heat until lightly golden on each side. Stored warmed tortillas in a clean towel to keep warm and continue warming the other tortillas.
5. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place two heated tortillas on the prepared sheet. layer shredded cheese, a single layer of yams, a single layer of chicken, more cheese and finally a second tortilla. Place cookie sheet in the oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese melts and the entire thing is heated all the way through. Remove from oven and place a second cookie sheet with two more assembled quesadillas into the oven.
6. Let quesadilla rest for 5 minutes before cutting into quarters and serving with sour cream.


I don't think the boy was sold on this one until he tried it. He is forever being subjected to my combining savoury and sweet and the oven roasted yams have a great sweetness that he wasn't convinced would be good in a quesadilla. I happily showed him the way and on this deliciously savoury with a hint of sweet quesadilla that now make regular appearances at dinner.

Leftover Ideas

Last week I made tasty Chipotle Mango Pulled Pork. I made it using a 3.5 lb pork shoulder. That's alot of meat for 2 people, which meant I had to get creative with the leftovers. Yes we could've just kept having pulled pork sandwiches, but where's the fun in that? Besides I come from a family, well more specifically I have a father who is AMAZING with leftovers. He is that person that always takes leftovers home from a restaurant and makes them even better than the were originally. It's always a culinary adventure at my parents' house because you can look in the fridge and see nothing appealing and Dad will go in there and create the tastiest meal. This is a skill that we could all benefit from these days what with rising food costs and the overall financial difficulties most of us are living with. With that in mind I took on the challenge to see how many different ways I could reuse my delectable pulled pork.

My first dish was something I've been craving for quite some time, enchiladas. The one stumbling block was the difficulty in finding soft corn tortillas in Toronto. I've only found one grocery store between work and home that carries them and I just couldn't get over there before my planned meal. But I recently saw Ingrid Hoffman (on her Food Network show Simply Delcioso) make quick and easy chicken enchiladas using flour tortillas. I figured if they were good enough for Ingrid than I could sure try them, plus I think the whole wheat tortillas are much better for you than the corn.

Pulled Pork Enchiladas
serves 3

2 cups of leftover pulled pork - heated in the microwave or a skillet
1 small onion chopped
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with onions & peppers
1 small can diced green chiles
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 whole wheat tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil or spray with cooking spray an 11x17 baking dish.
2. In a bowl mix together warmed pork, onions and 1 cup shredded cheese. In another bowl mix together the diced tomatoes and chiles.
3. Taking one tortilla at a time place 1/3 cup of pork mixture in a line down the center, fold the tortilla over the pork and place seam down in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
4. Pour the tomato chile mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the rest of the shredded cheddar cheese.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese has all melted and the filling and sauce is bubbly. Serve with sour cream and a side of black beans.

The boy really enjoyed this, I was less than impressed. I just felt that with the sauce in the pork and the sauce on top the flour tortillas just became too doughy. I still prefer the corn tortillas for my enchiladas but will try to flour tortillas again in a pinch and maybe with a different filling. This was a super easy meal which was my favorite part of it. Even better was that I cooked dry beans all day in my slow cooker. They were not perfect which is why I am not posting them. But another great cost saving measure is to buy dried beans as opposed to canned. They are much less expensive for the amount you get. They take longer to cook but if you make a bunch over the weekend they keep for almost a week in the fridge or you can try the slow cooker method.

On to the other leftover recipes. I didn't take pictures of these next two simply because I was starving when I made each. Lame excuse I know, but it's the truth.

Pulled Pork Panini
makes 1 panini

1/2 cup or more pulled pork - heated in microwave or skillet (just so it's not iced cold from the fridge)
1 thick cut slice of extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of leftover coleslaw (from when we originally had the pork)
2 slices of multi-grain bread

1. Heat up panini press/indoor grill, I have this grill.
2. On one slice of bread, layer pork, coleslaw, cheese and top with 2nd slice of bread. Carefully place sandwich in the grill and press down for approx 5 minutes, until cheese is melted and you get nice grill marks on the sandwich.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PANINI PRESS: This is a sandwich that can easily be made the same way you would make a grilled cheese. Just butter the outside of the assembled sandwich and grill in a skillet over medium low heat until nice and toasty.

I made this sandwich for Saturday brunch. The boy worked late Friday night and slept in on Saturday and I ran errands until he woke up and forgot to eat until I made this around 1pm. Hence my being too starving to take the time to photograph it. While it's just a sandwich with the gooey cheese and toasty bread it was quite a different experience than traditional pulled pork on a roll.

And on to the final recipe:

Pulled Pork Quesadillas with Guacamole
serves 2-3

Pulled pork - I used whatever we had left for this, I'm guessing it was approx 1-2 cups, heated in microwave or skillet
6 whole wheat tortillas
2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
cooking spray
2 avocados - cubed
1 tomato - pulp removed and diced
1/2 small onion diced
1 glove garlic minced
1/4 jalapeno - deveined and seeded and minced
lime juice - from 1 lime
salt & pepper

1. Make the guacamole first so it has time to set and the flavors can meld. In a medium bowl mash together the avocado, garlic, jalapeno & lime juice, keeping the mixture slightly chunky. Carefully mix in the tomatoes and onions. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Toast both sides of each tortilla until slightly golden. Set aside on a plate. When all tortillas are toasted. Place 1 tortilla on a cookie sheet. top with shredded cheese, a thin layer of pulled pork, more shredded cheese and a second tortilla. Repeat with remaining tortillas and meat to make 3 quesadillas.
3. Place cookie sheet in heated over and bake for 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and cut with a pizza cutter. Serve with guacamole and a green salad with lettuce tomato and a vinaigrette dressing.

This was by far my favorite re-use of the pulled pork. I love quesadillas and this method to make them was so simple. I borrowed it from another one of my favorite bloggers, the Pioneer Woman, she is suggesting it for Superbowl Sunday and I inclined to agree. Whether you are reusing pulled pork or just about any leftover meat or using all veggies like the Pioneer Woman it's a tasty and satisfying treat.

Enjoy!

Chicken Mole

One of my favorite Mexican sauces is mole. This little Mexican place around the corner from my old job made the best chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. I miss them terribly. If you are unfamiliar with what mole is you can check out the Wikipedia page. The mole sauce I know and love is more technically called a mole poblano and according to Wikipedia is:

"Mole poblano is prepared with dried chili peppers (commonly ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), ground nuts and/or seeds (almonds, indigenous peanuts, and/or sesame seeds), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon and occasionally nuts), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves, onions, and garlic. Dried seasonings such as ground oregano are also used. In order to provide a rich thickness to the sauce, bread crumbs or crackers are added to the mix."

In an effort to stick to my diet but still feed cravings for tasty Mexican I decided to make a South Beach approved Chicken Mole, it incorporates several of the elements in a traditional mole poblano but is obviously tweaked to be SB friendly. It's a pretty solid dish and easy to make, but it was not my favorite and I'm posting it as a work in progress that I plan to tweak it to make the ultimate mole. Suggestions are welcome!

Chicken Mole
from the South Beach Diet Cookbook
1 1/4 lb. chicken breast tenders (I used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Salt
Ground black pepper
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped (I used a red bell pepper)
1/2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (Since I only had whole cloves, I just crushed them with my mortar & pestle)
1/2 can (7 1/4 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp unsweetened natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scallion, chopped

1. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and black pepper. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with olive oil cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 8 minutes, turning once, or until browned on both sides. Remove the chicken to a large plate.
2. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes, or until the onion becomes translucent. Stir in the chili powder, cinnamon, and cloves and cook for 1 minute.
3. Return the chicken to the skillet. Add the tomatoes (with juice), peanut butter, and cocoa powder and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer, stirring every few minutes, for 25 minutes, turning once, or until the chicken is no longer pink.

I think I will try to just make the sauce from this a few more times to get the spices just right. I think it could use some chipotle chile to give it a bit more heat and I may sub in some allspice instead of cloves next time and try using some oregano. If you try it and/or have any suggestions. I'd love to hear them. Enjoy!

Carne Asada Tacos

I just realized that my last 5 out of 6 posts were desserts. Too funny considering that up until the last 6 months I never considered myself a baker! Today is the start of my diet, and the end of the sweet posts for a bit. I'm going with the South Beach Diet since I saw results from it in the past. I'm also doing a fitness boot camp 3 mornings a week to help kick start a healthier 2009. Don't worry, the desserts will be back shortly I just need to get myself on a healthy track before I can go back to indulging every once in awhile.

With that in mind I wanted to have one final day of bad stuff yesterday. That included my Chocolate Raspberry Tart for breakfast, some Doritos for an afternoon snack and carne asada tacos and beers for dinner. I decided on the tacos for 2 reason (1) when we stopped at the grocery store in Vermont on our drive home they had soft corn tortillas which are not easy to come by in Toronto; (2) I love carne asada and it is made using flank steak (a South Beach approved cut of beef) which we can use the leftovers to top a caesar salad for dinner this week.

As I do with any Mexican dishes I checked out Simply Recipes since Elise's Mexican and Tex-Mex recipes are always spot on. This one was no exception, full of flavor and so tasty! Here you go:

Carne Asada
from Simply Recipes

2 pounds flank or skirt steak
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Marinade:
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seed (best to lightly toast the seeds first, then grind them)
1 large handful fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, finely chopped (great flavor in the stems)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup olive oil

1. Lay the flank steak in a large non-reactive bowl or baking dish. Combine marinade ingredients and pour the marinade over the steak. Make sure each piece is well coated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-4 hours.
2. Preheat your grill over medium-high flame (you can also use a cast iron grill pan on high heat for stove-top cooking) (Since it's a bit too cold here to grill I broiled my steak, approx 7 minutes per side for medium rare). Brush the grates with a little oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Remove the steak from the marinade. If you are cooking indoors, you may want to brush off excess marinade as the bits may burn and smoke on the hot pan. Season both sides of the steak pieces with salt and pepper. Grill the pieces for a few minutes only, on each side, depending on how thin they are, until medium rare to well done, to your preference. You may need to work in batches. Remove the steak pieces to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steak across the grain on a diagonal.

(Optional) Serve with warm tortillas (flour or corn). Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side in a dry skillet or on the grill, until toasty and pliable. Alternatively, you can warm tortillas in a microwave: heating just one or two at a time, place tortillas on a paper towel and microwave them for 15 to 20 seconds each on high.

(Optional) Serve with pico dde gallo and chopped avocados.

I served ours with warmed corn tortillas (soft for me hard for the boy), chopped tomatoes, shredded romaine, shredded cheese, and black beans on the side. Personally a great taco and a beer is up there on my list of favorite easy meals. Once this South Beach Diet who-hah is over I may institute a weekly taco night at home. Something tells me the boy won't object. Enjoy!

Carnitas

Ever since I've moved to Toronto I've been craving good Mexican food, specifically tacos. Based on the few times I've tried I've found it's basically impossible and doesn't exist in this city. That being said, I have a list of three or four more places to try and plan to, but with lowered expectations. I've come to terms with the fact that if I want the kind of Mexican I had available to me in LA, I'll have to make it at home. This weekend I bought Ultimate Slow Cooker, it's chock full of interesting slow cooker recipes and a Carnitas recipe that I decided to try first to help with my taco craving.

For those of you that don't know Carnitas (according to Wikipedia) " is a type of braised or roasted (often after first being simmered) pork in Mexican cuisine. It can also be made from beef using a chuck roast, although using pork seems to be the more common method."

I've only ever had pork carnitas and I LOVE it in tacos. The boy had never had it before and loves pork so it was an obvious choice for our house. I used the recipe for a 5-6 quart slow cooker, if you have a 3-4 quart one half all measurements. Below the Carnitas recipe is one for the fresh pico de gallo that I threw together to go on the tacos.

Carnitas
from Ultimate Slow Cooker, a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication

1 4lb boneless pork shoulder roast
2 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
4 tsp cumin seeds
8 cloves garlic - minced
2 tsp dried oregano - crushed
6 bay leaves
3 14 oz cans of chicken broth
4 tsp finely shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice

1. Sprinkle pork generously with salt & pepper. Place in slow cooker
2. To make a bouquet garni, cut a 6-inch square from a double thickness of 100% cotton cheesecloth. Place peppercorns, cumin seeds, garlic, oregano, and bay leaves in center of cheesecloth square. Bring up corners of cheesecloth; tie with clean 100% cotton kitchen string. (I didn't have kitchen string and just cut a larger square and tied the corners into a knot to secure the spices) Add to slow cooker. Add broth.
3. Cook on low heat setting for 10 to 12 hours of on high heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.
4. Using a slotted spoon, remove pork from slow cooker. Discard bouquet garni and cooking liquid. Using two forks, coarsely shred pork; discard any fat. Sprinkle pork with lime peel and lime juice; toss to mix. Serve with tortillas, sour cream and salsa (or pico de gallo).


Pico de Gallo

1 small onion - diced
2 roma tomatoes - seeded and diced
2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 handful cilantro - roughly chopped
1 lime - juiced
salt & pepper

Toss first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Taste and salt & pepper accordingly. Let sit for at least 30 mins. Can keep in an airtight container for at least 3-4 days.


I really enjoyed this recipe, and so did the boy. The one thing I would change is I'd hold back from mixing the lime peel & juice with the meat and serve the tacos with lime wedges so people can add lime as they like. Alot of times carnitas is fried up after the braising and pulling to get nice crispy bits all over. If I were to make this on a weekend (when I had more time), I would throw it in a heated skillet to crisp it up just a bit.

I think tacos are best with soft corn tortillas. They are hard to come by here in Toronto and I wasn't thrilled with the ones I finally found, so I may be trying to make homemade tortillas sometime in the near future. If you are able to find store bought soft corn tortillas, make sure to heat them either in the microwave for a quick 10-15 secs or wrapped in a towel in the oven. This brings out the flavor but also makes them more flexible and easier to handle.

Hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

Huevos Rancheros

I was out of town last weekend and am leaving town again on Friday. I fully expected not to post anything until later next week, but my thrown together dinner of Huevos Rancheros looked and tasted too good not to share. Living in Southern California there is great Mexican everywhere you go and Huevos Rancheros is a staple on most breakfast/brunch menus, that being said I often make them at home for dinner. It's a really great and hearty meal that is honestly perfect anytime of day if you ask me.

Huevos Rancheros
serves 2

4 eggs
1 15oz can of black beans
1/2 small red onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
2 tsp olive oil separated
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 tbsp salsa (whichever you like best, I used Santa Barbara Peach Mango Salsa)
4 soft corn tortillas

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a small sauce pan. Saute chopped garlic until translucent. Add chopped red onion and saute for 3 mins. Add black beans to saucepan. Simmer on medium low for 15 minutes
2. When the beans are 5 minutes from being done, heat the remaining tsp of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high. Place one corn tortilla in the pan, let heat up for approx 1-2 mins, then flip over. Add a second tortilla on top, using it to soak the excess oil of the first tortilla. Flip the tortilla stack and replace the original tortilla with a new one. Repeat this process until all four tortillas are heated and soft. Place on a plate and over with a towel to keep warm.
3. Spray Pam in the frying pan and heat over medium heat. Put two eggs in the frying pan let cook until approximately halfway done (I like a standard sunny side up egg here, so I cook until the white is mostly cooked). Put 2 tbsp salsa and 1/4 cup shredded cheese on top of eggs. Cover pan and cook on low until egg is done to desired doneness and cheese is melted.
4. Place two tortillas on a plate and top with eggs, salsa & cheese.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 with the remaining ingredients.
6. Top with sour cream and chopped cilantro as desired. (I didn't have either but my dinner was tasty nonetheless)

This recipe is great because it can be modified with whatever cheeses and salsas you like or have on hand. It's traditionally made with a basic fried eggs, but would be great with scrambled too. Since I've lived in Southern California I almost always have corn tortillas and black beans, two things that last for awhile, making this an easy meal to throw together. Enjoy!

Chicken Enchiladas

Growing up in New England, we weren't exactly surrounded by a wealth of Mexican food options. It was basically Taco Bell and that was it. Surprisingly I found a great Mexican restaurant in Westport, CT, where my college roommates and I would go for margaritas and tasty food. It was there that I first fell in love with enchiladas. I have yet to return to that little Mexican restaurants since moving to SoCal, so I am not sure if their enchiladas would still compare the wealth of tasty options I have here.

As enchiladas remain one of my favorite Mexican dishes, I decided to attempt making them for the second time ever. My first attempt was a Tyler Florence recipe, that was quite good but I wanted to try something that was a little more traditional and also wanted to make my own chile sauce. I found this recipe on the Simply Recipes blog and liked the sound of it because it was very straight forward and had a recipe for red chile sauce. While the blogger made it clear that you could use the store bought version, everyone who knows me, knows I am all about making things from scratch. I made a few tweaks along the way and they are noted in red in the recipe below.

Mom's Chicken Enchilada Recipe
from Elise at Simply Recipes

Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped (about a cup) (I doubled the sauce so used approx 2 cups of onion)
Vegetable oil - grapeseed or olive
2 small cloves garlic, minced (3 large cloves of garlic)
1 14.5-ounce can tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted if you can get it (29 oz can of tomato puree)
2 Tbsp red chili powder (I ended up using upwards of 3 Tbsps, probably would have used more if I hadn't run out)
1 teaspoon sugar (2 tsp)
1/2 cup to a cup of water
12 corn tortillas
Grapeseed oil, peanut oil or canola oil - a high smoke point vegetable oil
2-3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded or chopped (I roasted boneless chicken breast on a baking sheet with oil, garlic salt and pepper at 350F for approx 3o mins and then shredded it)
Salt
2 cups grated cheese (about 1/3 lb)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. (Once heated I put the chicken in to cook while I prepared the sauce)
2. Prepare the sauce. Coat a large skillet with oil and sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent, a few minutes. Add the garlic for a minute more. While the onions are cooking, purée the canned tomatoes in a blender. (I skipped this step as I had bought tomato puree) Add the tomatoes to the onions and garlic. Bring to a low simmer. Start adding the chili powder, one teaspoon at a time, tasting after each addition, until you get to the desired level of heat and chili flavor. For us that's around 2 Tablespoons. (As noted above I used approx 3 Tbsp and the flavor was very good, but I definitely would have used at least a Tbsp more for some added heat) But it depends on your taste and how strong the chili powder is that you are using. Note that the tortillas and chicken will absorb some of the heat, so allow for that and let it be a little bit spicier than what you want in the finished dish. Add a teaspoon of sugar if necessary to cut down on the acid from the tomatoes. (I'm not sure if was the because I used tomato puree instead of pureeing my own tomatoes, but this step was definitely necessary to neutralize the acid and strong tomato flavor) You want more of the taste of the chili and less of the tomatoes for this sauce. As the sauce simmers, dilute it with water to keep it from getting to thick as it simmers. (This step was also very necessary, I don't think I used enough water because my sauce was still a bit too think, but I was concerned about watering it down too much and losing the spice of the chile) Remove from heat. Alternatively, use a prepared canned enchilada sauce, which can be perfectly fine.
3. Mix in 1/4 cup of the sauce with the cooked chicken, and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.
4. Prepare the tortillas. There are 2 basic ways to prepare the tortillas - the traditional way of dipping them in the sauce and heating them individually, and my mom's way when she is trying to cut down on the fat.
First the traditional way. Heat a small light skillet on med-high heat. Add a teaspoon of oil (high smoke point oil as indicated above, we use grapeseed oil) to coat the pan. Dip a tortilla in the sauce to coat the tortilla with sauce on both sides. Place the tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds, until the tortilla begin to show some air bubbles. Use a metal spatula to flip to the other side for a few more seconds. Set aside on a plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Proceed to the step 5. (I used the traditional way)
For my mom's low-fat method of heating up the tortillas, she places a small amount of oil in the skillet to coat the pan. Add a tortilla, flip it to its other side. Then add another tortilla on top of the first to soak up some of the excess oil. Flip them both together and add yet another tortilla. Keep adding them wherever there seems to be some excess oil. The idea is to heat the tortillas and soften them with the minimum amount of oil. As the tortillas become soft and heated, remove them to a paper towel to soak up even more excess oil. If you find you need more oil in the pan, add it. With this method, you do NOT get the chili flavor infused in the tortillas.
5. Assemble the enchiladas. Use an 8x12 inch pyrex baking dish. Place a couple spoonfuls of the chicken mixture in the center of a tortilla and roll it up. Place in the baking dish and repeat until all dozen of your tortillas are neatly placed in rows in the casserole dish. Cover the tortillas rolls with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.
6. Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. Use a metal spatula to serve. Serve with thinly sliced iceberg lettuce that has been seasoned with vinegar and salt (no oil), guacamole or avocado slices, and sour cream. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 4.

As noted above my chile sauce was a bit thick, this made dunking and frying the tortilla's a bit more messy than I think it should be. I really liked the flavor of the chile sauce and would make it again, first making sure I have enough chile powder and then continually adding water to thin it out. I also think if you follow the recipe and use canned whole tomatoes and puree then yourself the sauce will start out thinner than mine did. I also would mix a bit more sauce with the chicken as everything was a bit dry, but again I think alot of this can be attributed to the thickness of the sauce.

I served the enchiladas with vegetarian refried black beans. I love refried beans and I always do the same thing with them. I put a can of refried beans in a pot over medium heat and as they start to heat up I add between 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of salsa to add flavor. I will often add cheese too, but didn't last night as there was plenty on the enchiladas.

Overall this was a tasty meal that I will try to make again, taking into account what I learned this time. Until I am more proficient at enchiladas, I think it will be relegated to a weekend meal as it took a little longer than I normally like for a weeknight meal. For me to make everything it took just over an hour which isn't too bad but when I get home from work between 7:30p and 8p, it puts dinner a bit late. If I use canned sauce and leftover chicken it will come together alot more quickly.