Enchiladas Part Three: The Beef

Shredded Beef

1 two lb pot roast
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp onion salt
3-4 cups water
1 tbsp oil

In a large pan heat the oil to a pretty high heat, and brown the roast slightly on all sides. Once the roast is browned remove it to a crockpot. Sprinkle the meat with half of each of the spices, pour in 3 cups water, and cook on high for about 2 hours, turning the roast over occasionally. If necessary add another cup of water during this part (you want the water to cover most of the roast). After the two hours use two forks to pry the meat into a couple of smaller chunks. It may still be hard to separate, but you should be able to break it into three or four pieces. Also cut off any huge fatty pieces that are obvious. Then place the lid back on, turn the heat down to low, and cook about eight hours, or overnight.

The next part is a little weird, but I am totally grossed out by fatty meat, so this is my method for getting most of the fat out. In the morning I take the hot crockpot, stir the meat around a little more, put the lid back on, and put the whole crockpot in the fridge while I go to work.

When I get home from work, I take it out, and the fat rises to the top in chunks once it gets cold. If it was a really fatty roast you may be able to just lift the pieces of fat off the top with a fork, because they'll be pretty big. The one I used the other day was leaner, and just had dots of fat floating, so I put a big bowl in the sink, put a strainer inside it, and then drained the liquid off the meat into the bowl, so the strainer caught all the fat.

Return the meat and about 2 cups of the liquid back to the crockpot (or a large saucepan). You want the liquid to be just about at the top of the pieces of meat, so you may need a little more or less than 2 cups. Add the remaining half of the spices, and cook the meat on high for about 1 1/2 hours. Every few minutes stir the meat around and use two forks to pull it apart into small shreds. Once the liquid has been absorbed, and the meat is all shredded, turn the heat down to low, and then use the meat to make some fantastic enchiladas or flautas.

With this amount of meat you could make two pans of enchiladas according the method I described in my previous post, or you could make a pan of enchiladas and about eight flautas. Delicioso!

Enchiladas Part Two: Finally a Happy Ending

Irritated by my enchiladas fiasco a week or two ago, I decided to go back to my standard shredded beef/green enchilada sauce recipe, and was relieved to discover that I could in fact make bueno enchiladas! Granted the sauce may not be completely authentic, I'm pretty sure that adding milk is not exactly standard, but it tastes yummy, and it's the perfect complement to the shredded beef. The beef is garlicky and tender, the sauce is creamy and spicy, and then fresh, pliable tortillas, and shredded cheese are added--how could it not be fabulous?

And the leftover meat made some pretty awesome flautas too, to which our Friday night guests and my sister would probably both attest. Noel and I finished off the last two enchiladas for lunch today, and I'm already wanting to make it again, just talking about the taste of these makes my mouth start watering! The one small downside is that while the beef is cooking your house will pretty much smell like some sort of weird meat factory, which is really unappealing first thing in the morning (I cook it overnight in a crockpot), but don't worry about what your neighbors might think of your strange odours and emanations, you can take them some of the finished product, and all will be forgiven.

Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup + 3 tbsp milk, divided

1 cup chopped onion

2 (4 oz) cans of chopped green chiles

7 oz spicy salsa verde

dash of salt

7-8 10 inch flour tortillas

the shredded meat from one 2 lb roast

(sorry, I didn't think to measure how much meat I got as as the finished product)

2 cups shredded cheese, preferably cheddar or jack

In a large saucepan melt the 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Saute the chopped onion in the butter for 2-3 minutes, until the onions begin to soften. Add the green chiles, and keep stirring for another minute or two. Then add in the flour, stirring quickly to keep the flour from scorching. It will soon turn into a bunch of weird green lumps as the flour sticks to the onions and chiles, but keep stirring the lumps around until all the flour is absorbed. Increase the heat slightly, and slowly add in one cup of milk, stirring constantly, until the milk combines with the lumps and makes a fairly smooth sauce. It'll never be completely smooth because of the chiles and onions, but just try to make sure that there are no flour lumps. Add a dash of salt if desired.

Once the sauce is pretty smooth, stir in the salsa verde. Let the sauce thicken for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove one cup of the sauce to a microwave safe cup or bowl. Add the shredded beef to the saucepan with the remaining sauce, stirring until the sauce and beef combine into a sort of paste (which sounds gross, but will taste great!)

Spread about 1/2 a cup of the meat mixture along the edge of a tortilla. Sprinkle the meat with about 2 tablespoons of cheese and roll the tortilla up. Place the enchilada into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Keep repeating this until you've used up your tortillas, and your pan is full of enchiladas (you should only use about half of the meat mixture.) Take the cup of sauce that you set aside, and stir in an extra 3 tbsp of milk to thin it slightly. Microwave it for about 20 seconds to re-warm it if necessary. Spread the sauce over the top of the enchiladas, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese on the top is crunchy, and the enchiladas seem hot through.

Well, here's the recipe I complained about in my last post

I figured I'd include the recipe for the enchilada sauce anyway, since it really was a lovely color and consistency. If you just cut the chile powder in half (or maybe even less) I think it could actually be quite tasty. I think if I make this again I would also use a spicy tomato sauce, such as El Pato, to give it a bit more of a kick.

Enchilada Sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
2-4 tbsp chile powder (to taste)
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt

In a medium saucepan heat the oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and chile powder, whisking to prevent lumps, and cook until lightly brown. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce, water, and spices, and stir until smooth. Let the sauce cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens slightly. Taste, adjust seasonings if necessary, (I would definitely not use more than 2 tbsp chile powder, and I might even increase the garlic powder and onion salt a little bit). Once the seasonings are to your liking, cook for another minute or two until all spices are blended in, and then use to make enchiladas, burritos, or whatever else your little heart desires.

Gringo Enchiladas (or why I hate chile powder right now)

Inspired by a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, I decided I was going to make my own enchilada sauce. I stopped at that section of tiny plastic bags in the Mexican food aisle at Fry's, and bought both New Mexico chile powder, and California chile powder, since I wasn't sure which was better. Eagerly I headed home, mixed up some enchilada sauce, and made a pan of beautiful rolled red beef enchiladas. Sadly however, they tasted kinda blah, and I blame the chile powder.

The sauce wasn't spicy at all, just overwhelmingly chile powder-ish. Granted, I'm not the biggest chile powder fan, I usually use it sparingly, but I feel like this result was not just me. It was the gringo recipe's fault! :) Anyway, the enchiladas themselves were pretty good, the consistency was nice, the sauce-to-meat-to-cheese-to-tortilla ratio was perfect, and the meat and cheese part was quite tasty. And the best part was, from first heating the oil for the enchilada sauce, to eating the finished product was only about 45 minutes, 20 minutes of which the enchiladas were baking, meaning that I got the dishes done before eating! So I've decided to come up with another enchilada sauce, and then I'll remake these, since the method was good.

Easy Ground Beef Enchiladas

7-8 ten-inch flour tortillas

1 lb lean ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

7 oz can peeled green chiles

4 cloves garlic, peeled, minced

salt to taste
2 cups shredded cheese (jack, cheddar, or 'mexican blend' would be fine)

3 cups enchilada sauce (I used red this time)
cooking spray

In a large skillet brown the ground beef with the onion, green chiles, garlic, and salt to taste. Once the meat is fully cooked and the onion is soft, microwave the tortillas in ten second intervals until they're warm and flexible. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Take each tortilla, place about 1/3 of a cup of the ground beef mixture in a line down the center of each tortilla. Top with about 2 tablespoons shredded cheese and two tablespoons enchilada sauce. Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in the 9x13 pan.

Repeat these steps, smushing the enchiladas toward one end of the 9x13 as you add more of them. I only used 7 tortillas, but I actually had closer to 1 1/4 lbs of ground beef, so with only 1 pound I think 8 enchiladas should fit in the pan. Once all the enchiladas are lined up, spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of them, and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and enchiladas are hot.

And by the way, I like the ground beef in terms of simplicity and rapidity, but I think these would be even better with shredded beef or maybe shredded chicken (for those silly people that eat chicken anyway).