I love enchiladas but I don’t like cooking them at home because I’ve found that rolling them into shape and keeping them in that shape becomes a nightmare. This dish avoids all of that, and it sneaks in a lot of vegetables (or a little) — you choose – the result is tasty and gluten-free.
INGREDIENTS:
- 12 corn tortillas (6-inch diameter)
- Vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 medium poblano or green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- About 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large tomatoes (cored and chopped) or a pint of cherry tomatoes, diced small
- Chopped mushrooms (about 1 cup) and/or squash (peeled and chopped, about 1 cup) and/or eggplant (chopped, about 1 cup) and/or 1 cup chopped kale (tough ribs removed). You can choose as few or as many of these vegetables as you like
- 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (a rotisserie chicken makes this easy; optional — for vegetarian version, omit)
- About 2 1/2 cups of red or green enchilada sauce (I buy premade, organic enchilada sauce in cans or in jars at the store)
- About 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Pico de gallo for serving (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. In about 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet and over medium-high heat, cook onion, poblano, garlic, tomatoes and their juices, salt, any of the other vegetables that you are choosing to use, stirring and scraping the pan, until the vegetables soften and the liquid starts to dissipate, about 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken if using. Then stir in about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce — warm the mixture through. Taste for salt and remove from heat.
2. In a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, pour 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce and cover the bottom. Line the pan’s bottom with 3 corn tortillas, covering the surface as best you can. Layer about third of the vegetable/chicken mixture on top of the tortillas. Sprinkle a bit less than 1 cup of the cheese on top.
3. Repeat this process for a second and third round (first a layer of sauce, then tortillas, then vegetable/chicken mixture, then cheese) — almost as if you were making a lasagna. Pour any remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the pan, top with a layer of tortillas, then scatter the last of the cheese on top.
4. Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven, until the cheese is beginning to brown, about 15-20 minutes. The top layer of tortillas will have a crispy brown and the bubbling cheese offsets that. Serve topped with pico de gallo if desired.