Friday, November 17, 2006

Making Enchiladas - A Photo Essay

Every year at Christmastime my mother-in-law makes enchiladas using an old family recipe and a cast-iron skillet her grandfather carried over the border from Mexico. This year she asked if I would like to help her make them and I jumped at the chance.

The enchiladas start with homemade flour tortillas:



... that my MIL makes using, among other things, flour and bacon fat. This is where the old cast iron skillet comes in - she uses it to blister and cook the tortillas.

Next up is finely diced yellow onion:



... that goes inside the enchiladas raw so it retains its crunch. It was my job to cut the onions while my MIL cooked the ground beef:



... until it was no longer pink. Then we drained off the fat and she added:



... a sprinkling of chili powder, 1 cup of enchilada sauce and 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese for each pound of ground beef.

The resulting mixture:



... is then allowed to cool a bit before we set up the assembly line.



... with the disposable baking pans coated lightly with oil, the beef mixture, the bowl of minced onion and a pie plate with more enchilada sauce for dipping the tortillas

To assemble the enchiladas my MIL starts by coating a tortilla with enchilada sauce:



... then she cups the tortilla in her hand and fills it with the beef mixture:



... then she adds a sprinkling of minced onion:



... and folds it over and places it seam side down in the oiled baking pan:



Six enchiladas fit in one pan:



... and once all six are rolled, the enchiladas are coated with some more sauce and mozzarella cheese and then baked in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes so the cheese can melt:



My MIL then freezes the trays of enchiladas and distributes them at Christmastime to her kids and their families.
Pin It!

5 comments:

  1. *Drool Drool Drool*

    I can see myself making this for sure. But with store bought tortillas. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are unlike any other enchiladas I've ever had but they are quite good. And pretty easy (if you don't make your own tortillas). They are especially good with a nice dollop of sour cream. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sour cream is a gift from God.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do you know how much I cannot stand that Mark does not like enchiladas? This recipe looks devine. I WISH I COULD TRY IT but my husband has to be STUBBORN.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It really stinks that he isn't a huge fan of Mexican food. You know...you could always make a really small batch of enchiladas just for yourself. It's not hard and then you can satisfy your craving without forcing them down Mark's throat. :)

    ReplyDelete

I've been told there are issues with comments going through. After you comment, you should see the following message: "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you don't see a message it means the comment didn't go through. Please try commenting again! I'm sorry!