Ay ay ay. Enchiladas

Grrr…technical difficulties. If it's not with blogger (which I've learned to let the little things go) then it's my whole computer. Actually my computer's running fine, but the cord is out of order temporarily, so it's taken longer than normal to get the use of a comptuer long enough for my next post. But here I am and I can tell you about enchildadas now.

As much as I love Tex-Mex, I'm not the biggest fan of the typical enchilada you see at lots of restaurants. You know the kind, filled with yellow cheese and covered with a thick red sauce, like ranchero or something. I much prefer enchiladas suizas, which are made with a green sauce and sour cream.

Upon one of my outtings to a latin foods store in Barcelona, I discovered some tomatillo sauce in a can, which consisted only of tomatillo…great, because you can't find the real ones here, but this was almost as good, with nothing else added, just pure, mushed up tomatillos. Perfect for that cover recipe on Bon Appetit from June.

I changed just a few things: first of all, I don’t want my enchiladas stacked. They're enchiladas, not lasagna, they should be rolled. Second, I like plain ole cheese enchiladas, so I took out the chicken. Oh, and there are no poblano chiles here, unfortunately, so we did without. And finally, to the filling, I added some mushrooms. I think they turned out really well, but I could've done with a little extra spice or flavor, maybe that's what the poblanos were for. I would play around with it next time and see what I could come up with.

Cheese and Mushroom Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
adapted from Bon Appetit

salsa verde
3 pounds tomatillos (or about 3 15 oz. cans)
2 jalapeños, chopped
5 small garlic cloves, peeled
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 ½ bunches fresh cilantro
¾ cup Italian parsley
vegetable oil
salt

Mix tomatillos and jalapeños in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Now in a food processor, or with a hand-held blender, mix with garlic and cumin. Now add cilantro and parsley and blend a bit more. Heat a bit of oil in a skillet over medium and simmer the salsa until thickened and reduced, about 10 minutes. Finally, add the salt.

enchiladas
vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
¾ cup sour cream
6 oz cheese (Mexican is best, like Chihuahua, but I used Emmenthal)
15-20 button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
fresh cilantro for garnishing

Heat up oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add garlic to pan. Once it’s softened after a few minutes, add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until soft but not mushy. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tortilla to skillet; cook until slightly softened, about 15 seconds per side, turning with tongs. Transfer tortilla to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining tortillas, adding oil to skillet as needed. Now you’re reading to assemble the enchiladas. Get a large casserole dish, and one by one, take a tortilla and fill it with a bit of cheese and some mushrooms, then roll the edges over and place edges-down in the dish. Remember to save some cheese to put on the enchiladas. When you've finished with all the tortillas, pour the salsa verde on, then sprinkle the cheese, and finally, pour the sour cream all over the top(the measurement is just a guide, put however much you see fit, in my case it was lots). Bake until the salsa is bubbling and it's browned on the top, maybe 35 minutes but could be sooner. Now throw on some cilantro and eat 'em, not that they come out of the dish perfectly, mine kinda didn't hold their rolled shape, but they still tasted just as good.

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