Cha Cha Cha Enchilada

It's been 4 years since I've been stateside, and I've been having a hankering for enchiladas.  I normally make either cheese enchiladas or chicken enchiladas with blue corn tortillas and green sauce. 

Right before Christmas I put in an order at a Mexican food place that is luckily located not too far from my house! 

The impetus for the shopping was that I can't stand the corn tortillas sold in the shops here.  They are nothing like what I used to get when I lived in Texas for obvious reasons.  Since I own a tortilla press, I figured it was time to buy some masa harina again and make them myself.   We've had corn tortillas a couple of times since then.

Then this week I stumbled upon The Homesick Texan blog.  And while I was looking through the recipes, I saw one for Squash Enchiladas.   I thought that it sounded interesting, and I had what I needed already in the house!   I try to make a couple of meatless meals a week, and this recipe fit the bill.   I don't really go on about it, but like most every one I try to stretch the food budget.  We eat a lot of organic produce, and it comes with a price.

Now I did make a few changes.   I didn't have cascabel chiles, but I do usually have guajillo chiles as they are my favourite, so I used guajillos.  I didn't used tinned tomatoes because I didn't have a tin of whole tomatoes.  I had some ripe ones that needed to be eaten, so I skinned and seeded them and cooked them with the onion and garlic for the sauce.   And I used 4 yellow patty pan squash because we don't have the same yellow crookneck squash that you find in the States.  And I'll confess I used some pizza cheese (a mix of mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan) on the top with some added Nimbin Natural cheese.  I was just using what I had and was convenient.  I have to confess that I am hanging out for Costco to open in Sydney, so I can get Monterey jack cheese.

Stack of freshly made corn tortillas



Guajillo chiles soaking after being dry-fried


Onions, garlic and tomatoes sauteing up for the sauce


The actual sauce after the ingredients go in the blender.  The sauce is cooked again after blending ingredients.  This is typical of enchilada sauces, and I think it helps to meld the flavours.


The zucchini and squash filling which tasted very nice all on its own.


Tortillas get dipping the sauce and rolled up with the filling


Here they are out of the oven after having all the sauce poured on them and cheese put on top.


I had the blender out to make the sauce, so Col suggested making margaritas to go with the enchiladas.


The margaritas were a good call.  The enchiladas came out quite hot, as in spicy hot.  I noticed my chipotle in adobo was really hot.  I wasn't too concerned about the heat of the dish because I knew Will wasn't going to eat it.   I served the enchiladas with a simple salad of lettuce, tomato and corn with a vinaigrette.   It helped cool the heat along with the margarita!   I am always blown away by Moo's tolerance for spicy food.  She ate two enchiladas, the same amount as me and Col.  I am no wimp with spicy foods, but both Col and I kept commenting that dinner had quite a kick.  You know when your lips are still burning 5 minutes after you are done eating. 

I would definitely make these again.  We really enjoyed them.