Easy Enchilada Sauce

Alright, I know I used to be able to find canned enchie sauce that didn't have a lot of gobbledy-gook in it! Not this time. I thought d'ems which stock the stores were catching on to the fact that some of us don't want to eat crap. Unless we choose to that is... *earnestly ignores bowl of yogurt-covered pretzels at her elbow*

My friend Beth chastised me loooong ago for not making my own. Now I see why. No biggie, and all from stuff you probably have in your pantry already. I have seen the light.

I made a half recipe of the Vegetarian Times' black bean and corn enchiladas (not...got lazy and just tore up 3-4 corn tortillas and layered the filling!), using a recipe for the sauce I found on About.com. S'good!

Easy Enchilada Sauce:
(slightly adapted from Jolinda Hackett's recipe on About.com)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour (I used whole grain spelt flour)
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 cups water
1- 8 ounce can tomato paste (I only had a 6 oz can...do they even make 8 oz'ers?? I added some tomato puree in to flesh it out, but really, I think it must have been a typo in the orig. recipe)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
(I added a small squeeze of agave nectar, and about 1/2 tsp white vinegar...)

Heat the oil, flour and chili powder together in a large pot. Allow to cook for a minute or two.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a slow simmer. Stir well to combine and dissolve tomato paste in water. Cover and allow to cook for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more spices as desired.

I froze the extra sauce not used in the making of this:

Pork tacos with Slaw and Spicy Pepitas

A recipe in the most part from this month's Cooking Light, tweaked in that I used pork tenderloin instead of loin chops, and I roasted it in the oven after pan-searing instead of grilling.
If you feel like grilling by all means do that. I also added a touch of olive oil, a little agave nectar and cilantro to the slaw. You can jazz this up any way you'd like to suit your tastes.
I served up the tacos with a side of sliced orange and avocado...beans seemed like too much work last night. :-)


Pork Tacos with Slaw and Spicy Pepitas:

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ancho or chipotle chile pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pork tenderloin
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, divided
1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper (I used a whole large pepper)
couple tablespoons of minced cilantro
1/2 (16-ounce) package coleslaw (about 3 cups)
a squirt of agave nectar
olive oil
a splash of cider vinegar
6-inch white or yellow corn tortillas
Greek yogurt or light sour cream
spicy pepitas

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Lightly coat pork olive oil; rub spice mixture over all sides of pork. Cover and refrigerate 2-4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400.
Combine 2 tablespoons juice, bell pepper, onions, jalapeño, and coleslaw in a large bowl, tossing well. I also added a smidge of salt, a bit of olive oil, cider vinegar and a turn of agave nectar.


Over med-high heat, pan sear all sides (~6-8 min. total depending on the size of the tenderloin) in a lightly oiled oven-safe pan.
Place pan in 400 degree oven and roast until a meat thermometer reads ~147.
Remove from pan and let rest for 10 min. The meat should still be pink inside.
Cut pork into ~1/4-inch slices. Combine pork and 2 tablespoons lime juice in a medium bowl, tossing to coat.

If you have a gas range you can flop the tortillas right on the burner and turn with tongs to warm/grill. If not, just follow CL's instructions as follows...

Heat a nonstick griddle over medium heat. Coat griddle with cooking spray. Arrange 6 tortillas in a single layer; cook 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Repeat procedure with cooking spray and remaining 6 tortillas. Divide pork mixture evenly among tortillas; top each tortilla with coleslaw mixture, a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream, and a sprinkling of Spicy Pepitas.

Spicy Pepitas:

1 cup unsalted raw pumpkinseed kernels
1 scant tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ancho or chipotle chile pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
a pinch of cinnamon
a couple squirts of agave nectar

Combine all ingredients except agave necar in a small bowl.
Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add kernels to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently, adding agave nectar in the last couple minutes.
Remove from pan; cool completely.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas with Salsa Verde

I came home from a visit to my aunt's dairy in Colorado with 2 large bags full of her homegrown fresh veggies. Besides being inspired to start some kind of produce garden myself, I had to make sure I used every last veggie in something wonderful! One night we roasted the "fake out" peppers (look like jalapenos, but no heat) just like my Aunt Susan made them for me. Split in half, deseeded, broiled, then cheesed with a pepper jack and broiled some more. So yummy!
I roasted the baby eggplant too...again quite delicious. But the killer recipe was to follow when needing a use for her tomatillos and zucchini. I made Cooking Light's recipe for chicken, corn and zuke tostadas that called for store bought green salsa and instead used Simply Recipes' green salsa recipe.
I cooked up a batch of black beans and made a quick salad for a wonderful meal.
This was my first time (I think...) making green salsa and it was really easy.
At first the salsa as made was incredibly spicy, but it mellowed by the next day in the fridge to just the right heat level for us. I'd make it the day before next time, since I ended up putting less than the amount called for in the tostada mixture so as to not overwhelm the flavors of the veggies with heat.

The best part about making this recipe is that the next morning you get to eat migas with the leftovers! Just gently reheat the chicken veggie mix in a skillet and then add as many eggs as you want (I used 2 whole eggs and 3 whites). Then melt in as much pepper jack cheese as you want and serve with the leftover tortillas and beans. Topped of course with more of your fab green salsa!
I also had some leftover boiled red potatoes so I smashed them gently and fried them up in a skillet until golden brown on both sides. So make sure you have some just sitting in your fridge from a couple nights before too!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas:
(Cooking Light)

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil
12 ounces organic chicken breast tenders
1 cup chopped red onion (about 1)
fresh corn kernels from 2 ears of corn
1 cup (or more) diced zucchini
1/2 cup green salsa (I used only ~1/4 since it was so spicy when first made...recipe follows)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas (we used Central Market's multigrain tortillas)
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (we used a pre-shredded Mexican cheese blend)

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring well. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the spice mixture evenly over chicken. Add chicken to pan; sauté for 3 minutes. Add onion, corn, and zucchini to pan; sauté for 2 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in salsa and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.

Working with 2 tortillas at a time, arrange tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla; sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup cheese. Broil an additional 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese. Sprinkle each serving with remaining cilantro. Serve immediately.

If you're only cooking for 2 then you'll have plenty of chicken/veg mixture left for your morning migas! :-) It's hatch chile season around here, so I chopped 3 roasted chiles to add to the mix too.



Tomatillo Salsa Verde:
(Simply Recipes)

If you like a milder salsa, you might just add one of your cooked serranos at a time when you blend the salsa. Keeping in mind that it does seem to mellow out quite a bit after a day in the fridge.

1 1/2 lbs of tomatillos, papery outer leaves removed, washed and left whole.
3 serrano chiles, top cut off to expose interior and to remove stems, but otherwise whole
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (packed)
1 tsp salt or to taste

Put the tomatillos and 3 serrano chile peppers in a sauce pan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.

Simmer until the tomatillos are cooked, and have changed color, but are not mushy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer tomatillos and serranos to a blender. Add 1/2 cup of the tomatillo cooking liquid to the blender, as well as 2 cloves of garlic, chopped onion, and cilantro and 1 tsp salt.
Purée until completely blended, 15 to 30 seconds.
Taste and add more salt if necessary. Pour sauce into a skillet, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat.

Broiled Tilapia Fish Tacos with Mexican Black Beans

Wow, I've amassed quite a lot of photos for "posts to write"...this is the third I've written today!! And, I've got at least 3 more to go. At least I'm catching up a little bit. Here's a dinner we made on Saturday. Delicious fish tacos...can't go wrong with these.

Tilapia Fish Tacos with Mexican Black Beans:

fresh natural tilapia filets
olive oil
~1/4 tsp garlic powder
~1/2 tsp chili powder
~1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
~1/2 tsp cumin
Kosher salt (I didn't measure...just add it by eye, or salt your fish filets individually)
red cabbage, very thinly sliced (food processor with the shredding disk for this and the carrots is awesome)
carrots, finely shredded
minced green onions
chopped cilantro
store-bought remoulade (Central Market makes their own in the seafood dept.)
optional: crumbled cotija cheese
corn tortillas
lime wedges
Mexican Black Beans

Combine garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, and Kosher salt in a small bowl.
Line a baking sheet with foil.
Rinse and dry your tilapia (I worked with 2 large filets that totalled just under a lb.)
Rub the tilapia with some olive oil on both sides of the filets.
Sprinkle each filet with your seasoning mix to your taste and place on lightly oiled sheet pan.
Cover sheet pan and place in the fridge to marinate for ~20 min.

Make the Mexican Black Beans (without the cocoa)

While the beans are cooking, combine the cabbage, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. Mix in some remoulade right before serving on the tacos.

Heat your broiler on high with the rack in the topmost position of your oven.
Place tilapia in the oven and broil for ~4-5 minutes per side if large filets, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Nuke your corn tortillas under a damp paper towel in the microwave to steam and wrap up the fish topped with the slaw and a little cotija cheese in the warmed tortillas. Serve with black beans topped with cotija cheese and more cilantro.

Taco Seasoning

See that kitty up in the header? His name is Sammy. And Sammy is a beeeeeg taco salad fan! Well technically, he's a carb slut and he's lusting after the corn tortilla chips broken up on the top. Someday if I have help, you'll see a thought bubble coming from his wee noggin that says "I can haz taco salad?"! For those of you that might be concerned that I'm feeding our 15 year old boy taco salad, you can stop "freakinout" as my young niece Kate would say. Much to his chagrin, he subsists solely on a raw food diet...'cept for the stuff I happen to drop while cooking. He's quite the sneaky hoover.
All this is leading up to writing up a recipe for the seasoning mix I've just started using. Most of you probably have something you like already, and I'm the only one that's just started mixing up her own taco spice combo in lieu of "the envelope". But, in the case that there are any other people out there that still need converting...here's the recipe.


Taco Seasoning:
(This will make enough for ~2 lbs of meat...if not a little more)

This seasoning mix approximates the icky little envelopes of taco seasoning you can buy, but without all the icky little things in it! Tasty, easy, and you can always adjust the spice and salt level to your tastes.

4 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp paprika
5 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp kosher salt (if using regular salt, cut back the amt....or you can just cut this from the mix altogether and just add whatever amt. of salt you want to the meat when cooking)
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cayenne

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne. Store in an airtight container.

Taco Meat:

In a small bowl mix 2 1/2-3 TBS spice with 1 1/3 tsp of arrowroot powder, or 2 tsp cornstarch and set aside.
Brown 1 pound of ground turkey, or beef with fresh diced onion, drain.
Add spice mix, 3/4 cup water, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Use in tacos, or as we did last night atop of a big pile of thinly sliced Romaine with all kinds of other goodnesses for taco salad.

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.

Beef Empanadas...I hope

This is the game plan. Thaw out the extra cornmeal crust from making my Green Eggs and Ham quiche and use it to make beef empanadas based on a recipe from Gourmet's Sept. '07 issue. Plan of attack: Make the filling. Roll out the dough and build one lonely little empanada. Bake sole empanada. Taste test the empanada. If it's a go, use the rest of the filling to make more. If it's even a so-so response, plop the rest of the filling unceremoniously atop a plate of goodies that constitute our usual taco salad and be done with it!

Alright...so the empanadas were good. But, oh-so frustrating to make with the cornmeal dough. It just wasn't flexible enough to pull over the filling without creating Frankenempanadas. Good thing I was enjoying a bout of patience (not the norm!), since I had to patch all the holes and be very delicate in placing them on the baking sheet for fear of making more splits. The one in the photo is the purtiest one I got out of 5. I did have lots of filling left over, since I really didn't have enough dough to make the whole batch. I'm just going to use the rest of the filling to make enchiladas for the freezer. Several of the recipes I found call for using frozen empanada dough disks. Just do that if you can find them, a store bought pie dough like Pillsbury, or use a recipe that creates a pie dough that can be stretched a bit more readily. We did really enjoy the cornmeal in the crust though. Maybe if I'd made the pastry recipe as it was written with mostly unbleached white flour instead of all white whole-wheat, it would have made it a lot easier to work with. I'm sure you could sub ground turkey meat for the beef.

Beef Empanadas:

1 recipe for double crust pie dough, or 1 package frozen empanada disks, thawed
~1 lb tenderized round steak, chopped finely (or you could use already ground, but I liked the texture of the chopped steak)
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1 tsp ground cumin
~1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder (no recipe I found called for this, so use it only if you want)
~1/2 tsp dried oregano
red pepper flakes to taste
1- 14 oz can of stewed tomatoes, drained with juice reserved...chopped
~2-3 Tbs reserved tomato juice
~1/3 cup chopped green olives with pimentos
2-3 Tbs raisins (I used dried cranberries)
~1/2 tsp salt
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (we used fresh duck eggs from Frank :-)
Optional: I happened to have a wee bit of shredded cheddar that needed to be used up, so I sprinkled a bit over the filling in each empanada before closing them up.

Heat a non-stick skillet over med., add a little oil and brown beef for about 4 minutes, or until you no longer see any pink.
Remove meat from skillet and drain off any fat.
Add some olive oil to the skillet and cook onions until soft...about 5 min.
Then add back in the meat along with the spices, tomatoes, olives, and raisins and cook to blend the flavors, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the eggs.
Allow mixture to cool.

If using your own homemade dough:
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil, or parchment paper and oil lightly.

Divide dough into 10 pieces. I rolled out the cornmeal crust between sheets of plastic wrap and then put them back in the fridge to firm up again. I only took them out of the fridge one at a time. But, you probably won't be playing the martyr with cornmeal dough, so just carry on as written. :-)
Roll and then cut one piece into about a 6" circle, lay on prepared baking sheet, and spoon about 3 Tbs of filling onto half of the circle, leaving about a 1" border. Brush the edge of the pastry with an egg wash or a little warm water, fold over the empty half, seal remaining edges. Cut a small slit to vent steam. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until browned. I turned mine over after about 15 minutes in an effort to crisp up the tops.

If you're using frozen empanada disks:
Another recipe I found had you heat the oven to 425. Brush the empanadas with oil, and bake until golden, in about 10 minutes.

Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas

The Monster and I just fended for ourselves tonight instead of making dinner. But, since I'll have a long work day, I made dinner for tomorrow night today. I threw together what is in essence a quick casserole that I can pop in the oven when I get home. A long time ago my mom got us a subscription to Vegetarian Times. I'd made their recipe for Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas a number of times, but had lost the issue it was in. Thanks to Al Gore...the internet and Google came to the rescue! ;-)
I'll probably just make a quick green salad to go with. I'll post a photo tomorrow night when it comes out of the oven all bubbly with cheesy goodness.


Here she is...before I topped it with cilantro. I think I'll make this a day ahead next time we have it too. The corn tortillas soaked up a lot of the yummy enchilada snauce sitting in the frigo overnight. I only made half the recipe written and it made plenty for 2 plus enough for lunches the next day. If made ahead, cook covered with foil for ~25-30 minutes at 350. Then remove the foil, bump the heat to 375, and cook until cheese is bubbly.

Chicken (and pork) Posole

A nice easy night that only involved defrosting our leftover posole and preparing all the loverly toppings. I need to figure out what I did to make this concoction, since I married several recipes for posole as well as throwing in some leftover roasted pork from the carnitas we had a few weekends ago.

Posole is a Mexican thick, hearty soup made with pork, or chicken meat and broth, hominy, onion, garlic, chilies, etc. My photo just shows the toppings, but just under the surface lie a ton of goodies...big hominy kernals, tart tomatillos, and chunks of roasted chicken. Comfort food that's filling and easy to make. Freezes very well too.

Posole:

2 Tbs canola oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
1 Tbs cumin
a pinch of dried thyme or a few sprigs of fresh if you have it
kosher salt and pepper
1 cup beer
1 lb (I used about 14) tomatillos, peeled and coarsely chopped, or coarsely processed in food processor
1 can hominy (original recipe called for 15 oz. can, but I used a 30 oz. can...look for hominy without any weird preservatives.)
~6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2-2 lbs of cooked chicken (roast whole breasts coated with olive oil, s & p at 350 for ~40 min. debone and remove skin after cool, then pull apart with your fingers)
I threw in ~4 oz. of leftover pork just cause I had it.
1 lime, juiced


Optional toppings:
cilantro
2% Greek yogurt
diced avocado
crumbled cotija cheese (or shredded jack, etc.)

Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add canola oil, then onions, garlic, jalapenos, cumin, thyme, salt and pepper (to taste). Cook 5-6 minutes to soften onions then add beer and cook it off, ~3-4 min?. Stir in tomatillos and cook 5 minutes more, then stir in the hominy, chicken stock, and chicken. Heat through, adjust salt and pepper and simmer the posole 10-15 minutes over low heat. Stir in the lime juice and remove from heat. Garnish soup with cilantro and any other optional toppings.