our house enchiladas

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good members of the FOTW forum, this one has been a long time in coming - my apologies for the delay! 

what we have here is our version of a time-honoured mexican favourite, a preparation that would seriously be on my short list of  "last meal" requests, should i ever have need of that particular accomodation. the beautiful mrs. tas first made them several years ago, adapting the preparation from a locally produced cookbook that i have described here. i have always liked enchiladas, in many forms, but this one is absolutely the best version i have had and has become the meal that i request for my birthday each year, or any other special occasion worthy of note. 

wikipedia gives a brief description and history on enchiladas, which i am summarizing here:

 An enchilada is a corn or flour tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations...The Real Academia Española defines the word enchilada...as a rolled maize tortilla stuffed with meat and covered with a tomato and chile sauce. Enchilada is the past participle of Spanish enchilar, "to add chile pepper to," literally to "season (or decorate) with chile."

Enchiladas originated in Mexico. The people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico traditionally ate corn tortillas folded or rolled around small fish. Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented a feast enjoyed by Europeans hosted by Hernán Cortés in Coyoacán, which included foods served in corn tortillas. (Note that the native Nahuatl name for the flat corn bread used was tlaxcalli; the Spanish give it the name tortilla.) In the nineteenth century, as Mexican cuisine was being memorialized, enchiladas were mentioned in the first Mexican cookbook, El cocinero mexicano] ("The Mexican Chef"), published in 1831, and in Mariano Galvan Rivera's Diccionario de Cocina, published in 1845.

In their original form,...enchiladas were simply corn tortillas dipped in chili sauce and eaten without fillings. They now have taken many varieties, which are distinguished primarily by their sauces, fillings and, in one instance, by their form. Various adjectives may be used to describe the recipe content or origin....

Fillings include meat, such as chicken, beef or pork, seafood, cheese, potatoes, vegetables, and any combination of these. Enchiladas are commonly topped or garnished with cheese, sour cream, lettuce, olives, chopped onions, chili peppers, or fresh cilantro.

wiki goes on to describe the variety that seems to be closest to the kind we make:

 Gravy style enchiladas are the dominant variety of enchilada found throughout Southern and Central Texas. These have a gravy-like chili sauce over either cheese filled or beef filled corn tortillas and are topped with a layer of cheese....

because of this description, i have chosen to put our version of enchiladas in texas, as it seems to be more tex-mex than truly mexican. worthy of note as that we normally prepare this version with flour tortillas, simply because that is how it was done in the cookbook that she got the recipe from, but also because she prefers flour tortillas over corn. my own preference is for corn, but i love these enchiladas so much either way that i never complain. they are simply great!

also worth mentioning is that this recipe can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. we have been very satisfied with using store-bought seasonings, sauces etc., but there is no reason why a person couldn't make many of the staples from scratch. as we make it, it is intended to be "weeknight" food, something that a family can prepare and enjoy without a lot of intricate work, but as with many such recipes, there is always room for a tweak here or a slight modification there, in order to tailor it to one's own culinary preferences.

anyway here we go. the ingredients list is surprisingly simple, considering all of the good things that come from it. as always, this is for a good-sized family of 6; cutting the recipe in half would be advisable for smaller households: 

2 lbs of lean ground beef
20 (give or take) flour tortillas
1 large onion, diced fairly small
1 "small" can tomato paste
1 envelope mccormick enchilada "sauce"
1 "large" can enchilada sauce
4 envelopes brown gravy
1 can black olives
salt and pepper or seasoning of your choice (we prefer alpine touch), to taste
a bunch of shredded, sharp cheddar cheese
here's a shot of the goods (not pictured is the other pound of burger and the cheese): 

as i said above, a person could just as easily use corn tortillas; i imagine that you would want at least 30 of them for a similary-sized batch.

first things first, brown the onions in a little butter or oil:

and brown the burger, seasoning it a little with salt and pepper or whatever:

to be perfectly honest, a person could probably brown the burger and onions together, but having done so much hungarian cooking in the past year or so, and also because this is our own beef and therefore very lean, i did them separately. a person could jsut as easily brown them together, draining any excess fat, and it would probably eliminate a step.

anyway, once the burger and onions are well-browned and any fat is drained, combine them with the envelope of enchilada "sauce" and tomato paste:

then add three tomato-paste-cans of water and about half the can of olives, sliced:

stir this often as it comes to a boil, then let it simmer, uncovered, at a low stovetop setting, stirring occasionally. you want nearly all the liquid to evaporate out while the mixture reduces down to a thick, lovely, deep red enchilada filling.

meanwhile, combine the envelopes of gravy with the can of enchilada sauce:

i prefer old el paso enchilada sauce (and old el paso anything else, as well), but no matter. this brand was pretty darn good, too! 

add cold water as required for the gravy (in this case, four cups) and slowly bring this to a boil as well, stirring constantly, with one of those whisker-whippers or some other similar utensil, making sure to keep it from clumping up and/or burning on the bottom. once it is boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer this also, stirring very often, until you get a thick, deep-red/brown saunce that is simply lovely - this is about what you're looking for:

by this time, the hamburger mixture should also be about ready - here's what it should look like:

if it is not quite reduced enough, then keep simmering (it as well as the sauce/gravy) until it is the way it should be, in order to ensure the best final product possible. you don't want any watery-runniness, so keep reducing, and keep stirring!

now comes the fun part. photographing this sequence drove mrs. tas nuts, and so what we got is what we got. 

first, drizzle a nice, thick layer of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish; this serves two purposes: to coat the botom to keep the enchiladas from sticking, and also so that you can sauce up the tortillas. then, lay a tortilla in it. sometimes mrs. tas also swirled some sauce on the "top" side of the tortilla, and sometimes she didn't. 

in any case, plop some filling in the middle of the tortilla: 

being who i am, i would do the same amount in more of a line that a plop, but it seemed to work either way. 

next, top with some cheese and then roll the enchilada:

if you are using flour tortillas, tuck one end in first, then roll it up, leaving it open at the other end. i don't know why one end is tucked in, but mrs. tas does it, and that's good enough for me. if using corn tortillas, leave it open at both ends.

a word about the cheese: we always buy sharp cheddar cheese for this recipe, but the day we made them here, we only had the "mexican blend" cheese and that's just fine. if you like that, go with it. if you like longhorn, colby, monteray jack or whatever, use that. but to me, sharp cheddar is the way to go.

once the enchilada is rolled, arrange it in the baking dish and do more of them exactly the same way. until the baking dish is full. you will need two or possibly three dishes for this many enchiladas, depending on the size of dish you use. 

when you're all out of filling for your tortillas, top all the enchiladas with as much remaining sauce as needed, allowing it to drizzle down in between the enchiladas and over them, and then top that with cheese and olives:

we always have leftover sauce after making this, and it makes a great sauce for nachos or for tortilla chips. a person can also use it for tacos or "cheese crisps" or any number of treats - it is VERY good stuff, and for me it is what makes this dish so good!

next, throw this goodness into the oven and bake them at 350 degrees for half an hour or so, until the cheese is melted:

i actually prefer them baked a little longer, until the cheese gets golden-toasty brown, but either way is great.

it was soon after this picture was taken that fruits of our labour were literally thrown on plates along with other goodies from my birthday dinner as everyone who was there pigged out. every plate that passed under my eyes looked like a lovely, sloppy mess, so i have no nice plated picture. they smelled too good and the party was on, so i didn't get one....maybe next time!

anyway, this is one of those that you have to try in order to really experience how good it is. using our own ground beef worked so well with these flavours that the enchiladas tasted better than ever. sharp cheddar cheese would have been nice, but there was nothing wrong with what we used! the best part of this recipe is this: as good as they are right out of the oven, they are even better then next day. something happens to the leftovers overnight in the fridge and by munchtime the next day, when they are reheated, you cannot beat them.

i would love to see some people give this one a try and let me know what they think of it. the first time i ever saw this recipe, i wasn't very impressed with it as i read it, but after having made them the way that mrs. tas makes them above, i can say that this is a plate of enchiladas to die for! 

well, almost.... 