Beef Enchiladas with a Chipotle Mole Sauce

In my early childhood memories, I cannot remember my family making Mexican food at all. We had a humble up-bringing that, I believe was heavily influenced by my Mother and Father’s up-bringing. And, so on – and so on. Yes, we were the typical white family from Utah – having typical food, on a very tight budget. I do not offer these comments as a critique – I mention this as this shaped my early willingness to try new foods when I started to grow up, earn money.

When I was going to High School our favorite place to go to eat was the El Matador Restaurant.  We always ordered the ‘El Matador’ Especial – in that there was a cheese enchilada and a beef enchilada. What, I found so interesting was this sauce didn’t taste like anything from the Old El Paso can. I know, crazy right?

These enchiladas pay homage to those first ‘El Matador’ prototypes (the El Matador is still around) and improves it just a little . I am sure that you will find these Enchiladas to be ‘muy excelente.

Beef Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced and divided
• 4 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup beef broth

Method:

1. In a large skillet, brown your ground beef.
2. Add your onions and garlic to the ground beef and allow the onion to become translucent.
3. Add your carrots, tomatoes, oregano and beef broth to the skillet.
4. Stir and bring to a boil.
5. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until carrots are tender and the liquid is reduced.

Chipotle Mole

Ingredients:

• 1 chipotle chiles in adobo
• 4 dried pasilla chiles with seeds and their stems removed
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 3 cups broth
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Method:

1. In a dry skillet – on high toast your chiles on each side.  This should take about 10 seconds – you will see them slightly puff.
2. Fill your skillet with enough water to cover the chiles.
3. Heat your water and allow to boil – cover, turn off your heat and allow the chiles soak until they are soft.  This should take about 30 minutes.
4. Once your dried chiles are hydrated, discard the liquid and rinse your chiles and place in the blender.
5. In a large saucepan, heat your oil on medium heat and saute onions until translucent.
6. Move your onions, chipotle and garlic into your blender, add your cumin, oregano and broth.
7. In your saucepan over medium heat your going to make a roux – whisk your flour and remaining oil until well incorporated.  Whisk in the blended mixture and simmer for 15 minutes, stir.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the Enchiladas:

• 12 corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350º F.
2. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
3. Wrap your tortillas in a damp towel, and microwave for about 60 seconds on high.
4. Place a single tortilla on a plate and add about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture.
5. Roll your tortilla and place in your baking dish.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.
6. Pour your chile mixture over the enchiladas and top with grated cheese.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until your cheese is browned and bubbling.

Tagged as: beef, chipotle, dinner, easy, enchiladas, Mexican, mole, tasty, weekday