Simple, Perfect Enchiladas!

By melissab

Ingredients

• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
• 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
• 1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce
• 2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
• _____
• FOR THE MEAT:
• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• _____
• FOR THE TORTILLAS:
• 10 whole (to 14) Corn Tortillas
• 1/2 cup Canola Oil
• _____
• TO ASSEMBLE:
• 3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 cup Chopped Black Olives
• 1 cup Chopped Green Onions
• 1/2 cup Chopped Cilantro

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 90mins
Cooking time 110mins
Adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

Preparation

Step 1

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Okay, people. Let’s get down to business here. Let’s make enchiladas!

Did you know that in addition to having an imaginary

Let’s get the sauce going first. Okay? Okay. Throw 1 tablespoon canola oil into a medium saucepan, followed by 1 tablespoon flour. Whisk it together over medium-low heat.

Keep whisking as it cooks, and continue cooking for about 2 or 3 minutes. This is the base for the sauce. Luchan said so!

Pour in the red sauce (note that some canned Mexican sauce is quite PICOSO [look it up] so you’ll want to do your homework if you’re sensitive to flames shooting from your eyeballs) and chicken broth and stir the mix together.

Add 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Yeah. I mean the powdery stuff. Also add 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Give the sauce a good stir, and let it simmer on really low heat while you mess around with the other stuff.

Now. let’s make THE MEAT!

Throw the onions into a large skillet with a tablespoon or so of canola oil. Saute over medium heat for a couple of minutes.

Then brown the hamburger. Once it’s brown, dump in two cans of green chilies. (Oh, and you can drain the fat off the hamburger before adding the chilies if you feel like being a health nut or a responsible citizen.)

Go ahead and add a little salt to the meat. Now turn off the heat and tell the meat to cool its heels for awhile.

Anyway, in a small skillet over medium heat, fry individual corn tortillas just until soft.

You don’t want them to get crispy at all—just soft and a little blistered, about 30 seconds per side. Place tortillas on a paper towel-lined plate and keep warm while you finish them all up.

Right at the end, throw in 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro. Give it a stir.

Lay the sauce-coated tortillas flat, then spoon on some of the meat mixture and a some of the chopped black olives.

Note: if you hate black olives, don’t be deterred by its presence in this dish. You’ll hardly know they’re there—they’ll just add a tangy saltiness and texture that’ll really take the enchiladas over the top. Please. Please don’t be afraid.

Next, add a spoonful of green onions…

Next, roll up the tortilla and place it

Dip tortilla in sauce, then add meat, then add olives, then add green onions…

Then add cheese. Never, EVER forget the cheese. Luchan wouldn’t be happy.

Once you get them all into a baking dish (this one’s on the small side, so I had to use a second to fit in all the enchiladas I made), pour THE SAUCE over the top.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle a bunch of chopped cilantro on top. I can’t tell you the difference this cilantro makes in the flavor and beauty of the dish.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Brown the meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas in oil until soft, not crisp – about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper—towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip each tortilla into red sauce, then remove to work surface. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and green onions in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.

Looks delish, but Cilantro makes me gag big time! I guess just add some parsley.

This is my favorite. My all time favorite. Of everything you’ve ever posted. This is it. My most loved. Most adored. My most tummy rumbling like Pooh winner of the best recipe of the year/all of existance award. The one I want to eat right now. The one that makes me want to send you flowers and an olympic medal. It’s better than sex. Um,,,,,ok maybe not THAT good,,,,,,,,but maybe.

Now you need to tell us how to make huge copious batches of enchiladas and preserve them. We’re currently split between 2 households as we move, and if I could freeze these bad boys I’d be in heaven. They’d go to waste making all that food for just myself with hubby gone during the week. And of course I want Mexican food- NOW. Thanks Ree. Hmmmm, wonder if i can scare up an excuse to drive the hour it takes to get to the good Mexican restaurant and get some chicken and chorizo.

Those look fantastic. I’ve never wanted to make enchiladas where I’d have to dip the tortillas in oil first (seems like such a hassle), but you’ve changed my mind.

In my food blog I try to make recipes that everyone all over the world can make with basic ingredients or I give a how-to about certain things like spice mixes etc. But I often have a very, very hard time assembling your ingredients.

I worked at a Migrant Headstart for summers. I worked with some of the most wonderful women that were migrants, also. They would bring me “treats.” They got up at 4 a.m. to hand make tortillas for their families lunches before they came to work. Oh, the mexican food I consumed that summer. They would laugh when I would cry because of the spiciness. Pico de Guyo to die for. Rosie’s enchiladas were similar to these, too.

Yum, yum, Ree!! Once I get my new knife, I will have to get to choppin’ and make these wonders of the world!! I LOVE mexican food and wish I had a mexican great-uncle! I love mexican food….oh, did I already say that?

Holy crap the look soo good *walks away to get the stuff to make this fine food out.*

Here’s something you might be interested in knowing regarding the meltyness of packaged cheese. It has an additive of cellulose which helps keep it from clumping together in the package. BUT is also keeps it from getting as melty as fresh grated! I agree, that’s one convenience I can live without. Check out wikipedia for more info on cellulose.

TNADDIEGIRL

Tennessee Addie Girl

i shall now go forth and find me a mexican man to make these for…

Yum! You make this look easy. I never would have tried it without your step by step instructions/pictures. Now, I may just have the nerve to do so.

Ok, I will definitely have to make these, but also–where did you get those plates and that adorable pan? Pleeeaaasssse tell me!

Jenny Cheatham

That looks great and doesn’t seem like much more work than the ones I already make. I think I’ll stick to your recipe from now on!

Why is it that everytime I look at your recipes I am immediately planning a trip to the grocery store? Thanks for the recipe. I am going to have to make these. I love your cowboy nachos too…maybe I should make both…

If I was ever going to make enchiladas, it would be THOSE enchiladas ! Have a great Monday, Ree !

Will have to make these for company later this week! I use your recipes as much as I use Rachel Ray’s! Like things simple! And your pictures are really great!

I love enchiladas and it’s one of the best things my husband makes…chicken though. Whenever he comes home from the grocery store with cilantro I stick my whole face inside the plastic bag to suck up the smell!!! Hmmm do NOT try that at home!

What you do here is total food porn. And I’m addicted.

These look amazing!! I can’t wait to make them.

Love the baking dish! I think my hubby will like these. I will make them without the olives on my half…just b/c I am picky.

I was so nervous when I saw you were making enchiladas. I kept saying to myself, please don’t let her use flour tortillas, please don’t let her use flour tortillas. Thanks heavens you didn’t!! Enchiladas were not meant to be made with flour tortillas. They get so soggy and to me taste like you’re eating bread that didn’t get cooked all the way through. Slimy! Ugh. You make yours just like I make mine, cooking them in hot oil for a bit. They roll so much better when you do that.

YUMMY! These look amazing! I’ll try it with chicken as my husband and kids don’t eat beef. Up until a few years ago, I never knew the secret to softening the tortillas first in a skillet…it makes such a huge difference! I have since found that using a spray of Pam in a non-stick skillet works great for this and saves on the oil/fat. Just spray a wee bit in between each tortilla.

They didn’t have little Mexican friends when they were children so I guess they hadn’t seen anyone make them the *real* way.

I am usually a chicken enchilada kinda girl, but these sound yummy,I may have to make them this week.

I love enchiladas. I think they are my favorite food in the world. I make them very similarly to Luchan’s recipe. My family has the tradition of Las Palms enchilada sauce. Anything else is blasphemy!

I’ll make some for myself.

PW, I love you and hate you all at the same time. You see the first time I ever made you chocolate sheet cake was for super bowl last season and I ate half the dadgum thing all by myself while my friends and family watched with dropped jaws. Then I swore to God and Elvis I would NEVER make it again as long as we both shall live. Until yesterday…when the ingredients called out to me from my pantry and begged to be thrown together once again into that delicious, evil and sinladen cake of yours. And then I nearly ate the entire thing this time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go run 26 miles.

I had a muy big enchilada craving last week. And I had no clue how to make them. And I don’t have a deceased Uncle Luchan. So I just winged it. (wang it?)

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