Cheese Enchiladas

I didn’t feel like defrosting any meat so I made up a quick enchilada sauce from ingredients I had on hand and filled some corn tortillas with a combination of sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheeses. Ready to go in about 30 minutes and the house smells great!

I’ve been craving enchiladas ever since I saw the recipe and photo for Enchiladas Chipotle over at Gardenpath. I didn’t have all the ingredients for that recipe so I made up my own with the ingredients I did have. I did use some ground chipotle chiles in addition to my regular chili powder. If you use a lot of chili powder, I really suggest trying some from The Spice House. I have the medium strength and it is pretty spicy so I wouldn’t start out with the “hot” unless you really like some heat! I think the prices are very reasonable…probably less expensive than supermarket prices in many cases. Their Web site also has a great forum where you can ask the employees any spice-related questions and they can usually come up with an answer.

Here’s how I made the sauce:

Enchilada Sauce

2 T. olive oil
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
2 T. chili powder (part of this was chipotle chili powder)
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 C. water
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. brown sugar
1/8 t. cinnamon

1. In a small bowl mix together flour, chili powder, cumin, and cocoa powder.
2. Heat oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add flour mixture and cook, stirring, for about a minute.
4. Whisk in water and tomato sauce, making sure there are no lumps.
5. Add salt, garlic powder, brown sugar and cinnamon and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.
6. Taste and correct seasonings as desired.

I’m typing this from memory so hopefully I included all the ingredients! This recipe is based on the Ten Minute Enchilada Sauce recipe I found on allrecipes.com

For the enchiladas I used corn tortillas. My tortillas were a little stale so I steamed them by placing a splatter shield over a pot of boiling water and laying the tortillas on top for a few seconds until they were pliable. I then dipped the tortillas in some sauce, filled with cheese and placed in the baking dish. After the baking dish was filled, I poured on some extra sauce and sprinkled some cheese and black olives over the top. Normally I would also include some beef, shredded chicken or shredded turkey in the enchiladas and maybe some green chiles.

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