Friday, April 11, 2008

Beef Enchiladas with Roasted Corn-Black-Eyed Pea Salsa Salad


This is day 3 of Freezer Emptying...Frozen leftover beef empanada filling remade into enchiladas. Very good! I think I'll skip the trouble of making empanadas next time and go straight for the enchies.
Beth...you might have to skip down to the salad at this point, lest you lose all respect for me.
Refer to the comments section from the Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas....
YES! I'll admit it! I used another can of enchilada sauce! Wow...I feel so much better having gotten that out. :-)
I had a second can of it in the pantry and it was either going to languish in there forever, or get driven all by it's lonely self to the food bank. What can I say...with the price of gas these days?
We ate it. NEXT time I promise I'll reform my ways and make my own sauce as recommended by Beth using this recipe she uses. Her advice is to go easy on the chili powder...the original recipe calls for 1/3 cup.

Now on to the recipes...

Beef Enchiladas:

Beef Filling (I had half the recipe left from the empanadas and it made 6 enchiladas, so 12 if you've got a whole batch)
corn tortillas
homemade or 14 oz canned enchilada sauce (I used one can for the 6, so use 2 cans for 12 enchiladas)
~1 cup grated cheese (I used pepper jack)
sliced green onions
chopped de-seeded tomato

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Steam your tortillas in the microwave. I put a damp paper towel on the bottom of a plate, place a stack of tortillas on it, then cover with another damp paper towel and zap for about a minute.

Pour some of the sauce in your baking dish. Take a tortilla and dip one side in the sauce, then fill the un-sauced side and roll. Messy!
When you've got all your enchiladas rolled and tucked into the dish, pour the remaining sauce over the top.
Sprinkle with cheese, green onions, and fresh chopped tomato.

Cover with foil and bake for about 20-30 minutes, then take the foil off and bake for 5-10 minutes more. You want them to come out nice and bubbly. The cooking times are weird since my enchiladas were colder. If you make the filling fresh, it might take less time.



Roasted Corn and Black-Eyed Pea Salsa Salad:

I'd planned on making a black bean and corn salsa...opened my pantry...kidney beans, garbanzo beans, butter beans, great northern beans, black-eyed peas...but NO black beans!
This is a salsa I usually make with fresh black-eyed peas (Texas Caviar), but it's equally good with the canned.
It was so refreshing on top of a pile of crispy Romaine lettuce, I highly recommend you try it.
It's also great just scooped out of the bowl with tortilla chips.

1 can black-eyed peas
2 ears of fresh corn cut off the cobs and roasted
~1/4-1/2 cup diced red onion
2 diced, and seeded jalapenos
juice of one lime
a pile (1/2 cup?) of chopped cilantro
cider vinegar
a Tbs or two good olive oil
salt
pepper
a small bit of agave nectar or honey

ribbons of Romaine lettuce (I slice the whole head, wash and store it in a plastic bag for pre-washed lettuce anytime)

Turn broiler on high. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with canola oil spray or somesuch. Place freshly cut corn (you can also use frozen in a pinch) on evenly on sheet and spray tops with a little more oil. Broil for about 5 minutes, then stir. Pop back under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes. Stir again. Just keep doing this until you think it's done to your liking. I think I broiled for a total of about 10-11 min.

Toss all of the salsa ingredients in a bowl and play with seasonings until you're happy with the taste.
I added a little agave at the last moment to take a little of the tart edge off. But, not too much.
Chill in fridge until you're ready to make your salad.

When dinner time rolls around, just pile up some Romaine and sprinkle with a dash of olive oil, cider vinegar, and salt. Then, add a couple big spoonfuls of the salsa to the middle of your lettuce.

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