Stacked enchiladas

While traditional enchiladas are rolled, in New Mexico they do things differently. Lightly fried corn tortillas are spread with sauce and cheese and stacked together, and often served topped with a fried egg.

This is my take on stacked enchiladas. I don’t bother frying the tortillas, opting to bake the assembled stacks in the oven instead. While they are very nice with just the traditional sauce and cheese, I often add toppings to each layer – mushrooms and olives, usually – to give the dish more substance. It’s important to slice toppings thinly so they cook quickly and the stack melds together in the oven.

I divide one stack between two people, and serve it with a big green salad. Stacked enchiladas make very good leftovers, in the unlikely event they aren’t immediately eaten.

Stacked enchiladas
(serves 4)

• 2 Tb butter
• 2 Tb vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, minced
• 2 hot red chilli peppers, seeded and minced (or to taste)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tb ground cumin
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 8 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup coriander, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• 8 large corn tortillas
• 2 cups Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, grated
• 4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 8 pitted olives, thinly sliced

1. Melt the butter and oil together in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, chilli and garlic and fry until softened.
2. Add the cumin, oregano, and cinnamon and fry a couple of minutes more, then add the tomatoes, tomato paste and lemon juice.
3. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes. The sauce should be quite thick, but if it starts to stick, add a bit of water.
4. Remove from the heat, stir through the chopped coriander and season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Place a tortilla on a baking sheet. Spread thinly with the sauce, scatter with pieces of mushroom and olive, then sprinkle grated cheese. Top with a second tortilla and repeat until you’ve used four tortillas. Build the second stacked enchilada the same way.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the stack heated through.
8. Allow to cool for five minutes before cutting into wedges.

Tags: cheese, Tex-Mex, tortillas, vegetarian