Enchiladas the Way I Learned "Em

[Tina]

I don't use a recipe, Jess, or I would gladly share it.
I take tortillas (corn, dip them in hot enchilada sauce (canned, red or green) thickened with about a tablespoon of smooth peanut butter (per 28 oz can). Then I roll shredded cheese (mild cheddar or longhorn) and onions (yellow, chopped about  1/4 inch) and in this case cooked shredded or little cubed chicken. Top with a spoonful of same sauce and more cheese on top all crammed into a pan to fit. I am freezing these at this point but you bake until everything is hot and melty. Today I did sweat the onions  a bit because they don't really cook in the casserole and my tummy is getting older and objects if there are too many raw.
OK, a 28 oz can of sauce does about a dozen enchiladas with maybe a little sauce left over.You can serve that at the table because they are basically a dry-ish dish.  Some people swear by home made enchilada sauces but I have made them and they taste and work just like canned in my opinion. And are more expensive. 20 million Mexican nationals can't be too wrong......
I did learn this in the kitchen from an authentic Mexican male about 40 years ago. I am sharing some with the same man tomorrow.
Today I made three dozen and two. I used 3 cans of sauce and about 1 1/2 pounds of chopped onions and almost 3 pounds of cheese. I learned to make them without any meat traditionally, just cheese and onions but we Norte Americanos tend to add meat to everything.
Trick: just dip the tortillas in the hot sauce, don't soak. You want them warm and pliable not soggy and falling apart. Originally I learned to dip them in hot oil first then the sauce to keep them from absorbing sauce and falling apart. But who needs the extra grease and the extra step and the extra mess? Don't keep the tortillas in the refrigerator unless they are getting too old. It will expand their life span but they will become more brittle.
This dish makes a huge mess of your kitchen and hands and whatever you are wearing or you are not doing it right.

[Jessica]

So you put the cheese, onions and meat in the tortilla with a little sauce on top and roll up. Is that correct?  These sound excellent!

[Tina]

No dip tortilla in sauce. Put fillings in then roll up. It is easiest to fill and roll the tortilla in the pan they are going to cook in than to roll and transfer. (Also it isn't much of a 'roll' just around the filling and seam on the bottom.The melting cheese does ooze out the sides).

After you lay them all in the pan you add a little more sauce to the top of the whole thing and a little more cheese.

[Jessica]

Okay, just want to make sure I get it right because I just might try it this weekend.  So, you just kinda guess on the amount of cheese and meat to put in?  Whatever looks good?  I am assuming lots of cheese. I love cheese.   I would  be alright with cheese enchiladas but I think James would want meat. 

[Dianna]

I think I would like to try these with hamburger meat. For some reason, I don't like chicken in my Mexican food...

Is there a brand of enchilada sauce that you prefer over another, Tina?

[Tina]

Yes and I only used two shredded/chopped chicken breast halves in 38 enchiladas, not much. You can always do some of each too. Or serve a meat along with on the side.

[Jessica]

I usually make hamburger meat enchiladas too, Dianna, but I have had chicken and do like them. I am just lazy and think it is easy to fry ground beef than it is to cook chicken.

I was wondering about the sauce too.  I have bought a couple different kinds and not sure that I am completely happy with either of them.  I think I need to go to a mexican store and get some.

[Jessica]

Oh that is not much chicken at all.  I can handle that little bit of chicken.

[Tina]

No special brand, I really cannot tell the difference.
I would guess about 2 tablespoons or a little more of cheese, Jess but you will know when you have too much. They won't stay rolled even when pushed snug up together if they are too stuffed. Corn tortillas are basically kind of small.

[Jessica]

Oh yeah...I was thinking bigger flour tortillas.  I have never made them with corn tortillas.  I am excited to try them.  I love mexican food! 

I think the sauce I have bought is Ortega?...or something like that.

[Tina]

When I first moved to New England in the early 70's you could not find Mexican food in any stores. I had friends ship me the makings except I made my own flour tortillas. And then I put on some dinner parties. It was fun having these formal people filling their own tacos and burritos. Worrying that the rice would be too spicy and finding out that Mexican food does not mean hot. It is usually pretty mild and you add heat to taste with salsas and sauces at the table.

[Tina]

Ortega is a good one.

[Dianna]

These sure sound good. Thanks for posting the recipe, Tina...

[Jessica]

I normally have americanized mexican food.  One time I went with a friend of mine to her family reunion.  She was hispanic.  Well, they had real mexican food.  It was not like I was used to at all.  I asked her where they lettuce and tomatoes were for the tacos.  She said...we don't put that on our tacos.  I had no idea!!

[Jessica]

Yes...thank you, Tina. I will definitely be buying the ingredients for these in the next couple of days.  Yummy! I am hungry for them now.

[Tina]

Yes, i learned all kinds of things. But I didn't grow up with authentic Mexican food either. Our tacos did have the lettuce, tomato too. I learned more about it hanging around and learning the culture. And it was funny because when I visited my sister years later, we were making enchiladas and she learned the exact same stuff from her Mexican friends.

[Jessica]

Very cool!  It is fun to learn all this new stuff.  I think I am too obsessed with food.    No, I really just like to try new things.  I get tired of eating the same things all the time.

[Jessica]

Are you saving some for yourself, Tina?

[Tina]

Yes, i will save some for myself. I am not finished making them either. I just finished the chicken ones (green). I plan on making more with red sauce too.

[Jessica]

I have never tried the green sauce. 

[Tina]

it is a little different flavored but not hotter or anything. Green is the basis for chili verde. Or white chili.
I find cooking really exciting, Jess. All kinds of new stuff. But I don't always want to eat it all myself. It also needs an appreciative audience. Kids are often not....

[Jessica]

Tristen is not at all. He doesn't eat 1/4 of what I make.  He the pickiest child to ever live. He won't even eat pizza.   James is okay.  He doesn't always enjoy me experimenting with new things.  He likes the same old things a lot of times but I don't like to cook or eat the same thing all the time so I change it up here and there.  He doesn't complain though.  I think he knows better.  He might end up cooking for himself.  

[Tina]

John preferred the same old, same old. Then we would have potlucks and i would get creative and he'd say something like "why don't you cook for us that way?" Time for the frying pan.....

[Jessica]

  Typical male!