Enchiladas

I really love Mexican food, and slowly slowly slowly I acquire the skills to make a new dish. I thank Tom for showing me the bean burritos, and Stephenson House for the beginnings of the recipe I’m going to share with you now. Mmmm, Mexican food, so good, so easily vegetarian.

Step 1

Cut up a crapload of vegetables, such as the following:

-zucchini

-carrots

-a few onions, or one big one

-red/yellow/orange pepper

-green pepper

-other types of weird named peppers (some like it hot, teehee)

-diced garlic

Put some oil in a pot and fry em’ on up, till the onions are clear and the peppers are quasi-soft.

Add some fresh tomatoes once everything else is almost done frying.

The first stage of spicing takes place now. A little salt, a bunch of pepper, and Italian seasoning is good (which is mostly oregano). I say you go through the spice cabinet and add stuff that looks good.

Step 2

Dump in a bunch of cans of crap, such as:

-black beans

-kidney beans

-chick peas

-whole kernel corn

The trick for enchiladas (in which this formula differs for vegetarian chili) is not to strain any of the canned things, just pour in all the beans alongside their questionable looking juices.

Then you need to add:

-one of those big cans of diced (possibly seasoned) tomatoes

-a whole little bity can of tomato paste

(These individual steps are getting away from me, perhaps I should break it down more…)

The trick for any such recipe is indeed the tomato paste. No matter how much I’m making of whatever, its always a whole can, no partial cans will do. And you cannot forget the tomato paste, or the whole thing goes to hell.

Second stage of spicing… NOW! You need like at least 3 tablespoons of chili powder (unlike I previously thought, its not actually spicy, so don’t be afraid). Add some cayenne pepper and some hot sauce for the spice that you desire. As a rule, I never taste things until they’re completely done cooking, but I’m sure you’re different from me in this way.

Step 3

Simmer the now very full pot for like 20 minutes (simmer means medium temperature, right?), but its not particularly necessary to cover the pot. Stir it so you don’t have a layer of burnt bean snot on the bottom.

Spice more here if you want. Its your last chance.

Step 4

This is the tricky part, I guess. You have to strain out the sauce from the rest of the stuff. You can hook up a bowl/strainer system and ladle stuff in, and pour the non-sauce stuff back into the big pot. Or you can just use a strainy spoon when the enchilada assembly takes place.

Step 5

So you need a bunch of tortillas, like a 10 pack or something. As an added touch, spread a little bit of cream cheese on like half of each tortilla. You also need like a lasagna type pan to put the enchiladas in. Ok, so take your tortillas, spoon in a few spoons of bean/veggie stuff, put in some grated cheddar cheese, and roll up the tortilla, shove it in the pan (which you may or may not want to line with tinfoil, depending on how good you are at scraping off baked cheese). You’ll have a line of rolled up tortilla things in your lasagna type pan and it should be filled, up to some sense of the word.

Now the fun part! Pour the strained out sauce back and forth over the tortillas, add a CRAPLOAD of cheese on top, put it all in the over at 350 degrees for like 20 minutes and you have enchiladas!

So maybe I’ve made the recipe 20 times longer than it should be, but I think it has my own cooking flare added. The enchiladas do take several stages, but they’re really good. Its better if you’re making them for a bunch of people, b/c the recipe makes a lot.

I’m fairly convinced none of you will cook this, but if you ever come to my house I can make it for you. Right on.