Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Day 7, Cheese Enchiladas


First off, before anything else is typed here, I just want to scream out the fact that if you're going to make enchiladas, BORROW AN ELECTRIC CHEESE GRADER!!!!!! unless of course you already own one--or simply by pre-graded cheese. twitch, twitch.

Otherwise, hand grading 2 lbs of cheese is NOT fun. NOT NOT NOT

okay (takes deep breath and smiles) Welcome! I got tonight's dinner from one of my mother-in-law's famous and house-hold favorite dishes.

Yes, I am insane. I will confess my tightened nerves as my husband requested this dish over the phone. I've had this for dinner at his parents' home multiple times. It's delicious! Too good. Especially when it will soon be compared to my cooking attempt.

But, i rolled up the sleeves and got to work.

It wasn't that hard to be honest. Minus the cheese grading. (grumble grumble) The hand-grader loves me just about as much as my nunchaku do (similar to the pic) which happened to break a blood-vessel on my hand last night, i might add. LOL i think i may have mentioned my eternal rival with the grader once before. I promise it won't be the last.

Anyways, it turned out simple enough after the cheese was ready. And, lucky for me, it only took 20 minutes to cook! sweet. Only differences in the recipe that i did was i didn't use quite so much cheese. Not only did i just not have it, but i was DONE GRADING IT. So, i used enough to fill the rolls and just a touch on top. Turned out just fine :) Here's what you do:

Mom Inman’s Enchiladas
What you will need:

Corn Tortillas—1 ½ to 3 dozen
Cheese (Chedar, Jack, or Colby, or whatever you have)—2 lbs grated
Reserve ¼ or a little less to put on top.
One 28oz. can Red Enchilada Sauce
2 small cans Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1lb or less of hamburger, Ground turkey can substitute


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To Prepare:
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees

Sauce Prep.
-Brown Hamburger in a 2 Qt Sauce Pan.
-Drain as much grease after meat is browned.
-To the hamburger add the enchilada sauce and 2 cans of Cream of mushroom
(if your kids don’t like the Mushrooms you can put the cream of mushroom soup
in a blender with enough enchilada sauce to thin then add to the meat with the
rest of the enchilada sauce)
-Heat the Sauce, no need to boil or cook the sauce.

Prep a 9 x 13 pan, by spraying lightly with cooking spray.
-Add 2 or 3 ladle full of Sauce to the pan. You don’t need a lot just enough to cover the bottom lightly.

-Grate the cheese.
-Cook tortillas in a pan of hot oil, 1 to 5 second on each side, just enough to soften the tortillas. (Optional)
-Roll about 2 table spoons of cheese into each Corn Tortilla and place in pan in rows.
(Normally, you can fit 1 to 1 ½ dozen in a 9 x 13 pan, depending on how tight you roll them.)

-When the pan is full, cover with sauce, make sure all the edges are wet or they will get very crispy and chewy.
-Cover with cheese, it doesn’t have to be thick, it is OK to see sauce underneath.

Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Let enchiladas cool for 5 to 10 minutes prior to serving as they will be hot.

Enjoy.

1 comment:

Midwest Keech said...

Sounds like you had a good go at this recipe. I would also let you know that I have also layered the un-cooked corn torillas with the sauce/meat/soup mixture & cheese. It makes sort of a mexican lasagna that tastes pretty close to the enchiladas. It's also A LOT quicker to assemble, has less fat (tortillas aren't fried) and uses less cheese (if you want to).

Start w/ a little sauce at the bottom of dish. Tear tortillas in halves or pieces to make a layer over the sauce. Spread sauce over tortillas. Top with cheese. REPEAT.

BTW - I only use a tiny bit of cheese on top when I make my real enchiladas too. Too much cheese & it just forms a crust that someone ends up with as a "bonus".