Beef Enchiladas Verde with Peppers, Corn & Beans

Powered devices rudely announced that our power went out at 4:41 a.m. After that annoying chorus of beeps, clicks, chirps and alarms woke us up, we wandered through the house to address their status with taps and resets. Then we tried to ignore the rattling screens and gusting winds and fall back asleep. Hah! good luck with that. Power was restored about four hours later, but the winds continued to howl mightily. The lights flickered intermittently all day; it was going to be one of those days. Hello, Fall.


I turned to enchiladas, a favorite Tex-Mex comfort food, to help improve my outlook and attitude later in the day. Enchiladas are always welcome lunch fare, so I rummaged through fridge and cabinets to concoct this version of rolled enchiladas. With beef, beans, corn, peppers, and a peppy melting cheese rolled inside a tortilla, what's not to love?! My beef enchiladas typically feature a homemade red sauce, but substituting an available can of green sauce proved to be a successful swap. 

A more traditional recipe would call for 1) dipping a fresh tortilla in sauce and frying it before filling, or 2) frying a fresh tortilla in hot oil for a few seconds to soften it, then dipping it in sauce before filling. This isn't that. My naked flour tortillas were rolled around a loose filling, placed atop a bed of sauce, and topped with more sauce. Covering the dish with foil kept the tortillas soft while they baked; then an uncovered finish crisped them up just enough. Less mess, slightly faster preparation, but still delicious. Win! 

Beef Enchiladas Verde with Peppers, Corn & Beans

yields 8 enchiladas.

Ingredients:
1 can (15+ oz) mild green enchilada sauce, divided (Hatch, Old El Paso, Las Palmas, etc.)
1 scant Tablespoon canola oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 large poblano pepper, diced  (or 1 can diced Anaheim chiles)
1 Tablespoon chile powder (I used Penzey's Chili 3000)
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cups mixed corn, red peppers, black beans & onions (I used 1/2  package of frozen SW mix)
2 cups shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
8 medium-size soft flour tortillas

Optional toppings:
additional shredded cheese, diced tomato, diced avocado,  fresh cilantro, sliced radish... and your favorite hot sauce (Green Tabasco here)

Directions:

1. Spread a scant cup of enchilada sauce across the bottom of a 9x11 baking dish. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 f.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Brown the beef, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan. Add onion and poblano to the heated oil and cook until softened. Spoon off the accumulated oils. 
3. Add the seasonings, chile powder to paprika, and cook for a minute or two until fragrant; stirring occasionally. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the cooked beef and mixed SW vegetables to the pan; toss and stir to combine.
4. Place a flour tortilla on a flat plate; spread a generous 1/4 cup of the filling and 1/4 cup of cheese in a line across the bottom third of the tortilla. Roll to enclose and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
5. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the rolled enchiladas, scatter and extra filling and some cheese over everything. Cover with foil and bake for at least 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10 or 20 minutes until the cheese melts and the tortillas just begin to crisp and brown.
6. Remove, top with desired items and serve, or plate individually and offer toppings separately.

Note: leftovers covered with plasticwrap and reheated the next day in the microwave were soft, moist, and still darned good!

Turkey and Cheese Enchiladas Verde

We mixed it up this year and enjoyed turkey leftovers on Thursday, waiting to officially celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday. Flight schedules and weather get the blame - or credit - for the change this year. It's always worth waiting for family to arrive and join the party, plus this gave me an extra day to get organized.

Leftover turkey before you roast a bird??? It's easy enough when you roast several turkey legs and thighs for gravy stock several days ahead of time. Today we enjoyed turkey and cheese stuffed enchiladas filled with said poultry, three cheeses, onion, poblano chile, mini sweet peppers, cilantro and some heat from ground chipotle chile and green taco sauce. Yes! they were delicious, and hooray! there's still some turkey left to enjoy in turkey posole or gumbo later next week. 

My enchiladas are random creations, never the same twice, but here is a close approximation of today's version. 

Turkey and Cheese Enchiladas Verde

1 Tbs oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 large poblano chile, seeded and diced, divided
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried cilantro
1/4 tsp chipotle chile powder
1/4 cup green taco sauce (La Victoria)
3 cups homemade turkey stock (+ 1/2 additional to mix with cornstarch)
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch 
salt and pepper (optional)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey thigh meat 
4 mini sweet peppers, seeded and diced
1 cup kale, destemmed and rough chopped
generous 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
generous 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3 slices havarti, sliced for topping (or substitute another soft cheese)
5 medium-sized flour tortillas (more or less to fill the baking dish)

1. Saute the onions in tablespoon of oil until translucent; add half of the poblano and cook to soften. Stir in the seasonings: oregano, cilantro and chipotle. 
2. Add the taco sauce and turkey stock and simmer a while. Mix cornstarch with the additional 1/2 cup of cool stock and add to the pot to thicken into a thin sauce. Keep simmering (but don't boil or the cornstarch will loose its thickening effect). Taste, add salt and pepper if desired, and adjust seasonings as needed.
3. Spoon some of the sauce into a baking dish to cover the bottom with a thin coating. (I used an 8x10-inch pan)
4. In a medium-sized bowl mix combine the shredded turkey, shredded cheeses, remaining poblano, sweet peppers and kale. Add a little of the sauce, just enough to moisten and flavor.
5. Dip a tortilla into the sauce and place on a dinner plate. Spoon a line of the turkey/cheese mix down the middle and roll up. Place seam side down in the sauced baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
6. Drizzle any remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas (optional). Cover with remaining cheese.
7. Tent the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 325 F. Uncover and bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until the top crisps up a bit and the cheese turns golden brown. Let the dish stand for several minutes until the sauce and cheese firm up a bit. 
8. Serve with additional taco sauce, sour cream, avocado slices or guacamole. 

Crabby Cruising Enchiladas

We had barely arrived in Petersburg when we received the gift of six Dungeness crab, delivered to the boat, cracked, cleaned and ready to cook. (thank you Norm!) Steaming the crab was a fast process, and then I spent a lot more time picking out the chunks of body and leg meat. That’s not a complaint… I’ll welcome fresh crab any time, but it is a lot more fun to share the picking task with someone else. Check out last year's love note to crab. (link)

There are two types of crab pickers, the grazers and the pilers. Grazers enjoy each chunk of crab as it emerges, while pilers wait until they have a substantial quantity before they savor the sweet flavor of fresh crab. Me? I'm a piler, and y'all better not try to fork anything out of my pile without permission.   

We enjoyed Crab Louis salads the first night, followed by crabby enchiladas the next, and countless snacks and stolen nibbles just because crab bits were available, fresh, and oh so tasty. Enchiladas show up frequently on the menu, with a variety of fillings, and I usually just "wing it" with the recipe. This week it was fun to adapt a recipe from my latest treasure, The Fishes and Dishes Cookbook (link), a captivating collection of seafood recipes and more by Alaskan women who fish. Sisters Kiyo and Tomi Marsh and friend Laura Cooper, the primary authors, include recipes and stories from female friends and colleagues who also work in the world of commercial fishing. Enjoy this book for the articles and sidebars as well as the recipes. 

Crabby Cruising Enchiladas

Filling

2 cups cooked crab

2 cups shredded jalapeno jack cheese, divided

1 small onion, diced and divided

1/4 cup sour cream

2 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1/4 cup chopped poblano chiles (canned mild chiles will work)

a couple of shakes each of cilantro and cumin

Sauce

1 TB oil

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup mild green salsa or taco sauce

cilantro, cumin, garlic powder & onion powder to taste

1 TB cornstarch

6 small tortillas, flour or corn

sour cream & sliced avocado for optional toppings

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a small skillet and saute a handful of the diced onion until softened. Sprinkle on some cumin and saute until fragrant. Add chicken stock and green salsa; stir and heat. Taste and add cilantro, garlic & onion powder as needed. Dissolve the cornstarch in a bit of cold water and add to the skillet, stirring until it comes to a boil and thickens. Add water as needed to achieve a loose sauce. Reduce heat, but keep warm.

To prepare the filling blend the cream cheese and sour cream. Add the remaining chopped onion, chopped chiles, corn and 1 1/2 cup of the shredded jack cheese. Mix thoroughly; taste and add cilantro and cumin as desired; gently stir in crab just to combine. A squirt of lime juice tastes good too, or serve lime wedges alongside at the table.

To assemble the enchiladas, preheat the oven to 350 F. Spoon a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of an 8-by-8 baking dish. Set up an assembly line of sauce skillet, a plate or pie tin for assembly, bowl of filling, and the baking dish. Dip a tortilla into the sauce to coat both sides and place dipped-side up on the assembly plate. Add 1/6 of the filling to the tortilla and roll it up into a cylinder; place it seam-side down in the baking dish. Continue with additional tortillas until the filling is gone. Pour any remaining sauce evenly over the top, scraping the skillet to get every last tasty drop. Scatter the remaining 1/2-cup of shredded jalapeno jack cheese over the top. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until the top gets golden brown, bubbly and maybe a bit crispy.

Remove it from the oven and let it sit for at least 5 minutes to set up. Serve with assorted toppings available - sour cream, avocado, fresh cilantro, salsa, lime wedges, etc.

Notes:

1. The enchiladas hold and reheat well, though I’ve never frozen a pan of them. Leftover enchiladas are not a problem onboard since we'll eat them for breakfast or lunch, but these have been known to be a popular target during a midnight fridge raid.

2. At home I’ll take the time to roast fresh peppers and tomatillos, use fresh garlic and herbs, and make my own salsa. When we’re cruising I find that cans and jars are welcome substitutes for hard-to-find or had-to-store fresh ingredients. the enchiladas don't care.

Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Stacks

Dinner for Breakfast

Some mornings just lend themselves to projects - you know, some meaningful activity either inside or outside. Other mornings, well, not so much. Today was one of the latter, a snuggle-under-the-covers kind of morning, where watching raindrops create racetracks as they slid down the windows was my favored activity. Then the raucous squawks of a lone seagull grabbed my attention as he cruised by the window on some important mission. Finally the audible squawking of my own stomach reminded me it had been a long time since dinner. Thoughts of that dinner, and the plate of leftovers in the refrigerator, nudged me out of bed. Dinner for breakfast; now that's a great start to to a day.

Friday night’s dinner was delicious, a freeform recipe creating a stacked green chili chicken enchilada plus a side salad of baby spinach, orange segments, avocado chunks and slivers of fennel. It helped to have some packets of my homemade tomatillo - poblano sauce in the freezer, fresh cilantro and roasted chicken meat in the fridge, and a new package of almonds in the pantry. Almonds were a new addition to my usual mix of ingredients, with ground almonds in the sauce and slivered almonds in the filling.

Recipe? it's the usual story; I used something from a favorite chef, another online site, or maybe even a magazine, and then tweaked it until I liked the taste. 

So there I sat, pondering, how did I put together last night's version? Well, here's my typical process for building stacked or layered enchiladas.

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

Green chili sauce:

 1. Roast a dozen dehusked tomatillos, a few fresh poblano chilies, a handful of peeled garlic cloves and a quartered onion. (In a pinch, canned mild green chilies can substitute for fresh, but I don’t like the tinned flavor of canned tomatillos.)

 2. Transfer the above ingredients to blender; add ½ bunch of fresh cilantro; pulse to puree the miture a bit (a few small chunks are okay). 

3. Heat a bit of oil over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet; add blender mixture. Stirring often, cook until color darkens and sauce thickens.

4. Reduce heat to low; add some chicken broth to thin; season to taste with salt and pepper, Mexican oregano and ground cumin; simmer gently. Add a small handful of ground almonds (optional). Keep warm in the skillet; as needed, use cornstarch/broth mix to thicken, or add some broth to thin.

Filling options:
Shredded, cooked chicken (thigh meat is a favorite)

Strips of roasted sweet peppers

Shredded cheese (pepper-jack, swiss, Monterey jack…)

Chopped green onions

Fire-roasted corn (TJs frozen is a good choice)

Minced, seeded jalapeno chilies

Slivered almonds

Sliced green olives

Avocado chunks or slices

Fresh cilantro

Place selected filling choices in bowl; add some sauce; mix gently (or keep separate on platter if you want to change up the layers)

Building the stack:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Lightly oil a round pie plate (pick a size slightly larger than the tortillas you are using). Spread a thin coating of sauce on the pie plate.

3. Dip a tortilla into the skillet of warm sauce, coating both sides; place on pie plate. Top with thin layer of filling mixture; sprinkle with more cheese.

4. Repeat step 3; do it again as often as you like.

5. Top with one last sauce-dipped tortilla; press gently but firmly to even up the layers. Sprinkle with any remaining cheese and drizzle any remaining sauce over the top (don’t make it too soupy).  

6. Cover with foil (tented high so it does not contact the stack). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes; cut into wedges and serve.

Optional toppings: sour cream, salsa, cilantro, guacamole... or nothing at all.