Sweet Potato Enchiladas, New Mexico style (sort-of)

Nov 13, 2010 22:30

This recipe is heavily adapted/stolen from Simple and Delicious Magazine. You probably are more familiar with rolled enchiladas, which is the normal way to eat enchiladas. In New Mexico, enchiladas are made flat, in layers, sort of like lasagna is made. Now, in New Mexico, I doubt you will ever see a sweet potato in an enchilada, so the resemblance stops there. I was very skeptical when I saw the recipe, but I figured that somebody had liked it, or else they wouldn't be publishing it. M. was incredibly skeptical, and practically refused to eat it, until I modified the recipe to be in segregated layers as directed below. (The original recipe called for everything to be mixed together. This is more kid-friendly, since kids don't like things that are mixed together.)

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon water
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce (I actually used a 14 oz can of Hatch Medium Green Enchilada sauce)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 flour tortillas (8 inches) (I actually used 4)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the sweet potato and the water in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes or until potato is almost tender. I have no idea what tender is, or how to tell if it is done, so I just set it for 4.5 minutes. It worked okay.

While this is going on, put the beef and onion in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the meat is brown and the onions are translucent. Drain it on a paper towel and return to pan.

Grease the bottom of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Put one tortilla on the bottom of the plate. Put the sweet potato chunks on the tortilla, and pour 1/3 of the enchilada sauce over the sweet potato pieces. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on the mixture.

Put the second tortilla on top of the first layer. Pour the beans on top of this layer. Add the second 1/3 of the enchilada sauce and another 1/3 of the cheese.

Stir into the ground beef and onion the remaining enchilada sauce along with the chili powder, oregano, and cumin; heat through. Put the third tortilla on top of the bean layer. Put the mixture from the pan on top of the third tortilla. At this point, things will probably be stacked up pretty high in the pie plate, and there will be gaps along the side. It's okay to let the pan contents fill in along the sides. If necessary, smush things down with a spoon. Put the rest of the cheese on top of the beef/onion layer. Put an optional fourth tortilla on top to seal things in.

Put the pie plate into the oven and bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. The recipe claims you get 6 servings out of this. I suppose they're right, although we stretched it to approximately 8 or so, quite comfortably. The layers are very tall, and the meals are very filling. Don't let your eyes run away from your stomach; looks can be deceiving.
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