Saturday, November 28, 2009

Red Enchiladas, Part 2



Now that you have your red chile sauce, let's take inventory of the other things you need.
Corn Tortillas.  Only corn tortillas.  Fresh is better.
Cheese.  We like to use mild Wisconsin cheddar in  these parts, but in Mexico you would use "Chihuahua" which is similar to mild cheddar.  The kind that is blended cheddar and monterrey jack is fine, as well.  I think some restaurants and recipes use mozzarella these days which I think is weird and must be because it's cheaper.
Onion.  White or yellow.
Eggs.  Absolutely.
Spray oil like Pam or whatever you've got.  You could use corn or olive oil and a brush as well.

You might as well cut up the onion and here's where I go off the tracks a little.  Raw onion just doesn't agree with me and many others, so I always cook the onion.  Just chop it up and put it into a bowl with some olive oil, cover with a plate or plastic and nuke it for about 2 minutes.  It should be transparent when you finish. 

If you don't buy already shredded cheese you need to get out your grater and grate your knuckles up.  That's why I always buy already grated.  I've done that too many times.  Ouch, *#@$%$#&!!

Now, get a couple of quarter sheet pans and put them in the oven and turn the oven to about 400.  Don't use insulated pans, we're using them to "fry" the tortillas.   When they've been in there for a little while and are hot,  open the oven and pull them out and spray the pans with the oil.  Then put your tortillas on them, and then spray the top lightly.

Close the oven and wait about 3 minutes.  When you look at the tortillas they should show "bubbles".


Now take them all out and stack them on a plate.  You can put another batch in now, but if you do you might get distracted and let them get too cooked.
Put a large pan in front of you with a pool of sauce in the bottom.
Take a tortilla and lay it in the sauce, then turn it over.  Put some cheese and onion in the tortilla, and roll it up.  Keep this up until you're through.  Make sure you have sauce left over!
This is all a matter of preference, but I don't like enchiladas that are just
swimming in sauce, and if you put all your remaining red sauce on now, your tortillas will get too soft.  They should have some texture and bite-ability, and not be mush.
So, I barely get them sauced when I make them, and right before I heat them up in the oven, I pour over the remaining sauce and sprinkle the left over onions and cheese over.  Heat them for about 20-30 minutes in a hot oven and while that's going on, fry your eggs.
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There is nothing that I love more than an egg on red enchiladas.  It's just perfection.  Mmmmm.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love Red chile enchiladas and fortunately for me, Anita makes a good pan of them. Our kids really love them also. I'll have to show her your recipe to see if she can pick up on any good tips.

Ray D.