Enchiladas

It's Mexican Dinner Night!  Another cold wintry day in NC calls for a nice meal at the house.  Tonight, we turned to a dish that Bill learned to make several years ago (OK, more than 10 years ago) while in college before he headed off to Oaxaca, Mexico for a month -- Enchiladas!  This is a simple and original recipe passed down to Bill from his professor that accompanied him to Mexico for the trip. 

The recipe gets a bit messy with frying the tortilla shells and rolling them in tomato sauce, but the mess is part of the fun (so long as you have a helping hand in the kitchen).  As is Mexican tradition, these are simple and not overly complex like Americanized Mexican dishes.   We also have made these with chicken, and you can't go wrong with beef or chicken. 

With fried tortillas lots of mexi-cheese, how can you go wrong?  We absolutely love this dish served up with some rice and beans.

Here's a quick summary of how to make them (OK, be prepared we are not recipe chefs):

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 small onion
• 1 small green pepper
• Mexi-cheese (2-3 cups)
• Large can (28oz) of tomato sauce
• 1 package of corn tortillas (fresh, not already fried)
• Canola (or veg) oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Chop the green pepper and onion.
3. With approx a tbsp of oil in a large frying pan, saute the green pepper and onion until slightly softened (approx 5-7 mins) over medium heat.
4. Add the ground beef to the frying pan and cook until browned.  Remove from heat.
5. Setup an assembly line with two plates, the beef, and a bowl of mexi-cheese.  Also, prepare another plate with about 20 pieces of paper towel, 3-4 lining the bottom of the plate and the rest just to the side.
6. Pour a few ounces of tomato sauce in the first plate (reserve remainder to refill the plate as you go).
7. In a small frying pan, heat about a cup of oil (enough to fry the shells in) and bring up to frying temperature on medium heat.  We prefer to splash a bit of water (very small amount) in the oil when you think it is getting hot -- it will 'pop' back at you when it is ready so be careful!
8. Use tongs to quickly fry a tortilla, flipping it once, just long enough to soften the tortilla (no more than 15-20 secs).
9. Transfer the tortilla to the plate lined with paper towels and use the remaining towels to pat the tortilla dry.  Then, transfer the tortilla to the plate with the tomato sauce. 
10. Dip each side of the tortilla in tomato sauce to coat it, then transfer it to the final plate.  Fill the center with beef and a bit of cheese.  Roll the tortilla and transfer it to a baking sheet coated with non stick cooking spray.
11. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
12. When you have all your tortillas prepared and lined up on the baking sheet, cover the tortillas with the remaining tomato sauce and then cover with a layer of mexi-cheese. 
13. Bake for approximately 12 minutes at 375 degrees (long enough to warm the enchiladas and melt the cheese).

Prepare the assembly line

Frying the tortilla (no more than 15-20 secs)

Coat each side of the tortilla in tomato sauce

Fill with beef and cheese and roll the enchilada