Category Archives: tex mex

Spinach and chipotle cream enchiladas

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in tex mex, Vegetarian

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spinach enchiladasspinach enchiladas

These are one of the many delicious tex-mexy variations of enchiladas, and what’s wrong with that? But sometimes its nice to go the authentic route and NOT cover your enchiladas with cheese and bake them in the oven. But that day is not today. I don’t know when that day will be but probably when I am at very inspired levels and decide to make my own tortillas too.

Back to tex mexiness. These spinach and chipotle enchiladas are goo–ood. Anything with chipotle is good, right? But really it’s the homemade enchilada sauce that makes it. And if you have the sauce already to hand, then I would say this is a no-fuss easy meal.

Simple spinach and chipotle enchiladas:

2 or 3 chipotles from a jar of chipotles in adobo sauce
a large bunch fresh spinach, washed and chopped
About 12 corn tortillas
olive oil for frying
shredded cheese (I used parmesan, sharp cheddar and mozzarella)
1 cup heavy cream
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper
1 batch homemade enchilada sauce

1. Blitz the chipotles, the garlic clove and the heavy cream with salt and pepper in a blender till smooth. Taste and add more chipotle if it is not spicy enough. (This is a secret sauce by the way. I put it in my mac and cheese.) If you mix for too long, the heavy cream may thicken. This is ok! Same taste, different texture.

2. Use a paper towel to wipe a little oil around a frying pan and soften the corn tortillas by gently frying each of them.

3. Fill each softened tortilla with the fresh spinach and some of the shredded cheese. Roll up and place into a baking tray seam side down.

4. When the tray is filled, cover with plenty of enchilada sauce. You may not need all of it. Then cover with about half the chipotle cream sauce–or more if you want them to be really rich and creamy. The corn tortillas will absorb a lot of moisture so there should be enough sauce for the enchiladas to cook and still be ‘saucy’.

5. Cover with plenty of shredded cheese and bake in the oven for about 25-35 minutes or till golden and bubbly.

These are really great served with the works–homemade guacamole, greek yogurt or sour cream, salsa, and a citrus-y salad on the side.

Fresh enchilada sauce… Who knew it was this easy?

13 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by in quick and awesome, tex mex, the basics, tomato sauce, Vegetarian

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tomatoes for enchilada sauce

Fresh enchilada sauce. Who knew it was this easy?! Well, I did. But only after I read about it on the Mija Chronicles food blog. I make this any and every time I want enchilada sauce. ** Except that I frequently use a can of tomatoes as I don’t always have enough fresh ones to hand.

I recently made fresh tomato sauce with some extremely ripe tomatoes from the farmers market. Phew! No good food gone to waste. But shortly thereafter, what should appear but five more overripe, on-their-way-out, juicy red tomatoes. Am I not eating enough salad? Didn’t I just buy these guys?

Fresh enchilada sauce:

Ripe tomatoes (or a large can of unsalted tomatoes)
3-6 cloves garlic (about 3 cloves for every five tomatoes)
fresh jalapenos–I was out, so used the jar version
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the tomatoes roughly and toss them in the blender. You should peel and deseed them for perfect sauce. ** I HARDLY EVER do this on a week night. I usually chuck it all in, skins and seeds and all.

2. Roughly chop a few cloves of garlic and a deseeded jalapeno. Add as much jalapeno as you like for mild or spicy sauce. If you are unsure, start with less. You can add more spice but you can’t take it away.

3. Add the garlic and jalapeno to the tomatoes in the blender and blitz. You now have a strawberry-colored tomato pulpy mess that smells fantastic.

fresh enchilada sauce

4. Heat up a heavy frying pan with a generous glug of olive oil. When oil is hot pour in the blitzed tomato mix, heat till it’s nice and bubbly and then turn the heat down to simmer and cover. In a sense, you are frying or sautéing the sauce.

5. Cook this until it turns from the pale pink color to a deep red. About 20 min. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

I used mine for some kale and three-cheese enchiladas, which I will post about soon.

enchilada sauce