The Last of the Enchiladas Verdes!

I love summer but honestly, I am so very much looking forward to fall when I can get more chiles and tomatoes.  I've now just used up the last of my green enchilada sauce on a casserole dish of enchiladas stuffed with summer veggies.

The beauty of having a stock of homemade red and green enchilada sauce in jars is that I can make up the enchiladas with whatever I have at hand - I have used tofu, seitan, potatoes, any number of veggies, nut cheeses - you name it. I end up making enchiladas with the same stuffing maybe twice - and then move on. Here are instructions for tonight's dinner of:


Summer Veggie Stuffed Green Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1/2 med-large red onion, 1/4" dice
1-2 summer squash, 1/4" dice (you need about one generous cup of diced squash)
3-5 orange & white Chantenay carrots, 1/4" dice
3/4 cup corn kernels (froz or fresh)
4 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely minced
1 serrano chile, stemmed & seeded, finely minced
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tb cumin seed
1/2 tsp whole white pepper
extra virgin olive oil, as needed
2 pint jars of green enchilada sauce
1 c toasted pumpkin seeds
1 package corn tortillas (12 ct)

Directions:

1. Heat up a large cast iron skillet with 2 Tb or so drizzled olive oil.
2. Sautee the carrots until they start to get browned and soften.  
3. Add chile, onions & garlic and sautee til soft. Stir to prevent sticking.
4. Add squash & corn.
5. In a separate dry pan, toast the cumin seed and white pepper - grind in a spice grinder and add to the cooking veggies.
6. In the dry pan, spread the pumpkin seeds and toast - medium flame, move them to keep them from burning but not so much as to dissipate heat.  They should pop like popcorn.  Once they are toasted, remove from heat in a cool dish (they will continue to cook and scorch in the hot pan).
7. Spread 1/2 c of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 7" x 11" glass baking dish.  Put one tortilla in the pan, spoon some filling onto it.  Make sure it goes all the way out to the edge and roll it up.  Push it to the end of the pan.  The sauce on the outside of the tortilla helps soften it up and helps distribute the sauce a bit between the stuffed tortillas.  
8. Fill the rest of the tortillas - just squish them in together - if you run out of space and have extra tortillas, usually I'll have 1 or 2 extra - shred the tortilla into bits, ladle more sauce on the enchiladas, and then place the tortilla bits in areas that have space or where tortillas may have split when you rolled them up. 
9. Pour on the rest on the rest of the enchilada sauce, encouraging it to go down the sides into the ends of the stuffed tortillas with a spatula or spoon.
10. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 20-30 minutes until tortillas are softened. Sprinkle generously with salted toasted pumpkin seeds and serve.

Pumpkin Mole Enchiladas

After roasting and pureeing the large musquee de provence pumpkin I got from Mariquita months ago - I had 15 cups of pumpkin in my freezer!  Since I have been so happy with my red and green enchilada sauces, I decided to go for something more exotic - pumpkin mole sauce for enchiladas.  It came out STUPENDOUS! 

Here's the recipe - or process, rather - for the mole.

Ingredients:

• 1 very large yellow onion, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 5 c pumpkin puree
• 1 c tomato sauce
• 3-4 c mushroom broth
• 2 chipotle peppers, softened in hot water
• 2 ancho chile peppers, softened in hot water
• 1 bar mexican chocolate
• 1/2 c toasted black sesame seeds
• 1 c toasted pumpkin seeds
• Herbs: 1-2 tsp sage, marjoram & epazote
• Spices: 2 tsp ground Mexican cinnamon, 1/2 - 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ground allspice
• Cayenne chili flakes - to taste
• Salt - to taste

Directions:

1. Soften the onions & garlic in a large cast iron skillet or dutch oven in olive oil.
2. Add the pumpkin, tomato and coarsely chopped or broken up chocolate to the pan.
3. Stir to keep the sauce from sticking and add mushroom broth about 1 c at a time throughout the process - you want this sauce to pour nicely over your enchiladas and keep in mind that while it is in the oven, it will reduce so you want to make it a bit thinner.  
4. Carefully toast the sesame & pumpkin seeds - either in the oven on a small cast iron skillet, on the stove top or in toaster oven - the sesame seeds burn easily!  Grind half the pumpkin and sesame seeds and add to the sauce - reserve the other half for garnish.
5. Grind dried herbs & spices in the spice grinder and add to the sauce.
6. Chop up the chipotle & ancho chiles - add the water used to rehydrate them to the sauce, and add the chopped peppers to the sauce in batches and stir & taste.  Add more mushroom stock as needed.
7. Taste & adjust seasonings.  Let cool on the stove.
8. Puree in the blender - add more mushroom stock if necessary - taste and adjust seasonings.
9. Pour a small amount in bottom of casserole dish - use some sauce to soften tortillas (I nuke them in the microwave for 1 minute inside the plastic bag to soften), roll with your filling - then pour enchilada sauce all over the enchiladas.
10. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
11. Garnish with cashew cream (1 c cashews soaked for 20-30 minutes, put into blender, add liquid as necessary, brewers yeast, cilantro & lime to taste - puree til you get a cream consistency) and toasted nuts.

ENCHILADA FILLING:
Since the sauce is the main show, I like to keep the filling a bit simple firm tofu with some potatoes, chard, kale or other greens, some mushrooms, a little onion & garlic, maybe juice of a lemon, salt & pepper - cook til it is "dry" and let cool so you can roll it up into the tortillas and cover with your enchilada sauce.

Enchilada Casserole Deluxe

MAKING ENCHILADA SAUCE was probably one of the best things I did this year. I have been eating up the enchilada sauce at a much quicker rate than the marinara sauce, truth be told. This weekend, I am off in the Sierras at the cabin of friends of a friend - and the two of us are relaxing, skiing and cooking up a storm (well, at least I am). I helped my friend Eric at his cooking class at Millennium last weekend - and being that I hate to see anything go to waste, I ended up bringing home a pint of fantastic hominy, a pint of shredded parboiled brussels sprouts and a pint of pepper puree (not too spicy). I didn't quite know what I'd do with it til I realized I was feeling too lazy to make pappardelle for chanterelle stroganoff after a post-skiing first time session making chipotle caramels (which came out awesome, btw).

One of my favorite dishes is chilaquiles - which is basically diced tomatoes, with onions, garlic & green bell peppers, maybe a minced jalapeno - all simmered, made into a casserole with fried up strips of stale tortillas, covered with crema fresca and cheese. I've heard chilaquiles referred to as an "artery clogger" or "heart attack on a plate." In San Francisco, they are usually made with scrambled eggs... making a heart attack more eminent.

Being that I was feeling completely lazy after the skiing/caramels activities - I decided first to make enchiladas, and then decided to layer it - like lasagna. The result was essentially a roasted peppers based chilaquiles casserole - without the dietary cholesterol associated with the traditional recipe:

Step 1:
2 cups large white hominy
1/2 cup chile paste (dried chiles soaked in hot water & pureed)
1 cup water

Simmer hominy, chile paste & water til substantially reduced.

Step 2:
3 Tb olive oil
1/2 minced onion
2 cups shredded parboiled brussels sprouts (or some other green veggie - kale or mustard greens would work)

Sautee onions & brussels sprouts til onions are soft. Once hominy/chile mixture has cooked down, add to the pan. Add:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 Tb cumin
salt & pepper to taste
16 oz silken tofu (mash into pan or puree in blender first)
2-3 Tb tomato paste (optional)
1/3 c finely chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook this down til it reduces substantially.

Meanwhile - warm up your tortillas - you want to dry out a package of about 12 tortillas just a bit. Drizzle the bottom of the casserole dish with olive oil and then cover the bottom one layer of corn tortillas. You'll put down the filling and cover with the rest of the tortillas before putting the enchilada sauce on top.

Warm up 1 pint of Red Enchilada sauce - add about 1 Tb of powdered toasted chipotle pepper. Once the filling has reduced - spread it into the casserole pan, cover with a layer of tortillas, then spread all the enchilada sauce on top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove - spread the enchilada sauce smooth across the top with the back of a spoon or spatula, pour on 1 cup of cashew cream (or unsweetened Mimic Cream), sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds & crushed tortilla chips, Let sit for a few minutes to cool (it makes serving easier!) - use a nice sharp metal spatula to heft out a chunk of delicious casserole to your plate and enjoy!