PW's Enchiladas a.k.a. Casserole Mishap

My sister Aimee knows the way to my heart because she sent me Pioneer Woman's cookbook for my birthday. I immediately started making a list of what recipes I was going to try, they all looked so good! I had heard from many others about her amazing enchiladas so I had to give them a whirl. Now I've tried many of her recipes, and many of them I have LOVED, and were just so simple and delicious. I read over the enchiladas recipe and it seemed a bit more complicated than I'm used to, but I'm always up for a challenge. I picked up all the items at the store and began my first try at authentic enchiladas. I should have known that it was going to end up a "disaster" because when I first pulled out my corn tortillas all of them but 3 were broken in half. I wasn't about to go back to the store, so I was just going to "make it work!" 2 exhausting hours later we sat down to eat, and oh my, was it worth it. I may not make it PW style, but it was my style, dumbed down and casserolized! (is that a word?) :) 

First I started making the sauce, which was simple enough...enchilada sauce, chicken broth, oil, flour, salt, pepper. Things were going well...

Then I browned my beef, sauted my onions and added the green chiles. Again, not too bad, but here's where things got a little interesting...

First off, I hate frying things, for multiple reasons, but one of them being I really don't know when I should turn them, or how to know if the oil is hot enough etc. I am very intimidated by the whole frying process and have never had luck with it. Well, I gave it my best and things seemed to be going well with my broken tortillas and all. She says to fry them just until soft, and slightly blistered, about 30 seconds per side. Then I let them drain on paper towels.

Now you may be wondering why there are no more pictures to document making the enchiladas. Well, I was a little frazzled at this point and taking pictures was the last thing to cross my mind. Basically, after you fry the tortillas you are supposed to dip them into the delicious red sauce with some tongs and lay them on a cookie sheet to assemble. Hahaha right! They were just ripping apart when I would try to pull them out of the red sauce. I think I had one tortilla that turned out okay. I am wondering if I just didn't fry them long enough. /shrug I'll never know. PW is a wonder woman and I have no idea how she does it. It wasn't going well, but I was going to see this through! I got my tortillas all dipped, then began assembling them with the ground beef mixture, some chopped olives, green onions, and cheese! I tried rolling them and that is when I called it quits. My husband could hear me in the kitchen moaning and groaning and came to check in on me, his words were. "Oh this would make a good Halloween meal, you could call it bloody scraps". Thanks hon. Actually, it gave me a good needed laugh and I carried on. I still had a hungry family to feed, so we threw 1/3 of our "bloody scraps" in the bottom of the casserole dish, layered 1/2 of the beef mixture on top of that, sprinkled with chopped olives, green onions, and cheese. Then poured some of the red sauce on top of that. Then started the layering again with the red sauce-soaked tortillas, beef mixture, olives, green onions, and cheese, and topped with more red sauce, then finished the top off with the rest of the corn tortillas, sprinkled with cheese, green onions and some more red sauce! I made my enchiladas into a casserole and you know what? It actually worked, it was DELICIOUS! 

I probably won't try to attempt those enchiladas PW style again, but I will definitely be making my Enchilada casserole mishap again, Cami style. :)

If you want to see how the lovely PW does her enchiladas and makes it look so easy, go here! Otherwise, if you are interested in enchilada casserole read below! Don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients or long list of steps. It is worth it!

PW's Enchilada Casserole Mishap

adapted from Pioneer Woman

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 Tablespoon Canola Oil

1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour

1 can (28 Ounce) Enchilada Or Red Sauce

2 cups Chicken Broth

½ teaspoons Salt

½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro *I always omit cilantro!

FOR THE MEAT:

1-½ pound Ground Beef

1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced

2 cans (4 Oz) Diced Green Chilies

½ cups Chopped Black Olives *I added additional olives as well

½ teaspoons Salt

FOR THE TORTILLAS:

10 whole (to 14) Corn Tortillas

½ cups Canola Oil *I think next time I may even skip the entire frying process

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:

3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 cup Chopped Green Onions

½ cups Chopped Cilantro *Again, I omit the cilantro

First begin making the red sauce. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

While that is simmering, brown and season the meat with salt. Add the onions while meat is browning. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies, and olives. Set aside.

Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas in oil until soft, not crisp – about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried. *I may just omit this step entirely to make it a little easier and less time consuming. I'm not sure that it will affect flavor because I'm making the enchiladas into a casserole instead of stand alone items.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip a tortilla into the red sauce and lay on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. You may want to reshape the tortillas to fit, but that is optional. It will probably take about 5 or so small corn tortillas per layer. Spoon half of your beef mixture onto the tortilla layer. Sprinkle green onions and cheese (and cilantro). Then pour more red sauce on top of that. (Pour to your liking, but be careful you don't want it to soupy. I wouldn't recommend using all of the sauce, it was much too soupy for us.) Now start with another layer of dipped corn tortillas, the rest of your beef mixture, sprinkle more green onions and cheddar cheese, and top with more red sauce. Now for your last layer of dipped corn tortillas, sprinkle with more cheese and green onions and even top with more olives if you'd like.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle cilantro over enchiladas, if desired, before serving.

Now enjoy and trust me it is worth all the work!