Enchiladas and Red Chili Sauce

Submitted by HoChiWaWa

TheLizard and I were having a TexMex craving last weekend so we decided to whip up some Enchiladas.

Red Chili Sauce

The first key to good enchiladas is a good sauce, it should be a chili based sauce, not tomato (although I do use a bit of tomato concentrate to richen it up) I normally use Anchos or New Mexicos but today I went with Pasillas, being darker the color of the sauce is less red and more brown, next time I'll probably go back to the lighter chilis just for the more vibrant color but the sauce is still very good.

First things first, seed, stem and roughly chop your chilis (5-6 good sized chilis).

Then grind them up, if you don't have a spice grinder a blender works fine.

Sautee half an onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic then add in your chilis.

a minute after adding your chilis you need to add your liquid, about 4 cups, half broth half water works well.

Let this reduce by about half, then add a tablespoon of Masa Harina or corn flour to thicken, simmer it for another minute. Next you may add some tomato paste if you wish, not much, a tablespoon of 28% concentrate from a tube was more than enough. Depending on the stock you used you may need to salt it as well.

Next its off to the blender, it should end up fairly thick.

Delicious!

Beef

On to the beef.

We can be pretty impatient at times so we employ a pressure cooker for this, you're more than welcome to do this in a slow cooker instead, it will take all damn day but I imagine it will produce tasty results.

Sear off a nice chunk of beef.

Pour in 1 Negra Modello, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, a couple cups of beef stock, a couple tablespoons of homemade chili powder, a diced onion, a couple peppers, garlic, and bay leaf.

Pressure cook for 2+ hours, or much longer without the pressure.

remove and shred your beef, strain and save that broth, if you add some of the shredded meat to it you get a delicious soup.

Enchiladas

Now we have all we need for enchiladas, so grab your tortillas (corn) and your cheese (cojita and jack) and lets get started. You may need to soften your tortillas in the microwave to let them roll without breaking.

Spread some sauce on the bottom of your baking dish.

Put shredded meat and cojita in a tortilla, roll and place in the dish.Repeat until its full, pour some more sauce over the enchiladas and grate your jack and maybe a bit more cojita on top.

Bake.

Eat your delicious Enchiladas.