This is a great recipe – something other than regular chicken and beef enchiladas. I scored this recipe from an ‘old fat guy’: http://oldfatguy.ca/?p=1356. Please check out his blog (he even has a video of him making this recipe). I served the enchiladas with homemade Mexican rice and a simple arugula salad with olive oil and salt & pepper.
I used Spolumbo’s raw chorizo sausages (http://www.spolumbos.com/sausages/default.asp) – those from Alberta should know the brand. I cut open the sausages and used the meat. I’m not sure I’ll do this again though, because 1) the sausage meat was hard to ‘crumble’ when it was cooking – it tended to stay in sausagey chunks, even once out of the casing; 2) although it was chorizo flavoured, it wasn’t very flavourful. I think I’ll use Johnsonville hot italian ground sausage meat next time (http://www.johnsonville.ca/product/italians/hot-italian-ground-sausage.php) because I know that it’s got good flavour and crumbles when cooked. It’s just easier to put into the tortilla shells when it’s crumbled.
I used a full 10 pack of small tortilla shells, and they fit into the 13×9 inch cooking dish, 8 deep and 2 along the side. I’m not picky that about the cheese that I use for dishes like this – I used Kraft Touch of Philadelphia Herb & Garlic Shredded Cheese inside the enchiladas, Kraft Mexican Shredded Cheese and hand-shredded brick cheddar cheese on the top. I’m all about using up what’s open in the fridge first!
Just as I said in the Mexican Rice post, I am a big fan of Aylmer Accents canned tomatoes… For this dish I’d recommend the Spicy Red Pepper or the Chili, in the Petite Cut or Diced Cut.
Given that there’s only 2 of us, we had enough for dinner and lunches the next day and I made 5 freezer meals with enchiladas and rice for future lunches or dinners. Yum!
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 3/4 cup Onion finely chopped
- 1 clove Garlic finely chopped
- 1 tbsp plus one tsp Chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 2 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes (including liquid)
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 1/2 pound ground chorizo sausage
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 3/4 cup green peppers, chopped
- 2 large jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
- 1 can refried beans
- 8-10 small soft tortillas
- 2 cups old cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, chili powder, coriander, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper and stir constantly until the spices give a strong odour, about 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes with liquid and lime juice. Bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the peppers and jalapeno and stir until just starting to get soft, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the chorizo. Fry and stir until there is no more pink and the chorizo is crumbly.
- Put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of an 13 by 9 inch casserole. Put a spoonful of sauce on each tortilla. Evenly distribute and spread the refried beans on each tortilla. Evenly distribute the chorizo on each tortilla. Place a spoonful of sauce on each tortilla (but don’t overdo it – the majority of the sauce is needed for the top of the dish. Sprinkle the chorizo with a small amount of cheese. Carefully roll up the tortillas and put in the casserole dish. Repeat with all the tortillas. (I fit 8 along the length of the dish and 2 sideways along the side of the dish)
- Put the remaining tomato sauce over the enchiladas in the casserole dish. Cover with foil and put in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and spread the remaining cheese over the enchiladas. Put it back in the oven, uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and serve.
Old Fat Guy says
Thanks for the link to my blog!
The Old Fat Guy
theoldfatguy says
Great presentation of my recipe! Looks great.
The Old Fat Guy