Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Enchilada Casserole (Vegetarian)


I saw this recipe on Kuki's Cookbook, but made some changes.  Some were to make it vegetarian.  I got olives to put in, but they were so delicious I ate most of them, so added kidney beans instead (which Niall pointed out was a really poor substitution since kidney beans are nothing like olives).  And we had some leftover salsa and enchilada sauce that I wanted to use.  So I kind of butchered the recipe.  But I loved it, even more so the next day.  (It makes about six servings so I had it for dinner, lunch and dinner.)  Uh, I also really browned the casserole (broiled it for a few minutes) because I love burnt cheese.  It made the top tortilla so crispy and delicious.

Oh, and I ended up having way too much of the meat sauce.   I could only fit half in the casserole and will freeze the other half to use it later.

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound (454 grams) of vegetarian mince (or browned beef)
1 cup tomato salsa
1 cup enchilada sauce
1 can (10.5 ounces) tomato sauce (I pureed a can of tomatoes)
1/2 cup water
1 can kidney beans*
1 1/2 cups cheese (I used mostly mozzarella with 1/4 cup smoked cheddar)
1/4 cup jalapenos, diced (optional)
5 corn tortillas
1 tomato, diced

Heat the oil in a large skillet (a pot probably would have been better).  Add the vegetarian mince and begin to heat, stirring to prevent it from burning.


After 2-3 minutes add the salsa, enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, water and kidney beans.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.



Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a circular casserole dish.  Layer the meat sauce, a bit of the cheese, a few jalapenos and a tortilla.


Repeat until all tortillas are used.  Cover the last tortilla with cheese.


Bake the casserole for 20 minutes.


Remove and allow to set for about five minutes before serving, garnish with tomato.



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