When I first moved over here to the UK, the idea of ever being able to enjoy Tex Mex delights seemed to be but a distant dream.
These types of ingredients were few and far between and very hard to come by. There are still some things which are really hard to find, but happily there are quite a few ingredients which are a lot easier to find. Yay.
I think we can owe a lot of credit for that to Tomasina Miers who won Master Chef
in 2005 and whose main speciality has always been Mexican Cuisine! Greatly influenced by her frequent trips to Mexico, she is the co-owner of the Wahaca Chain of Restaurants.
This recipe I am sharing with you today is one which I first saw on the Betty Crocker site and have adapted to what is available here in the UK.
It looked really delicious and really simple to make. I also was able to halve the recipe quite successfully for just we two Tex Mex food lovers.
So what I do is roast fresh green jalapenos and then chop them up and use them.
Put
the beans, chilies, and salsa into a blender or food processor. Blitz
until smooth. Pour into a pie tin. Take your tortillas one at a time
and dip into the bean sauce to coat. (I leave it flat in the dish to do
the following) Sprinkle 2 TBS of the cheese blend over half of the
tortilla and fold over to a half moon, fold in half and then in half
again. You should have a triangular shape. Place into the baking dish.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Spoon any remaining sauce over top
along with any remaining cheese. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot
with your favourite toppings!
Just wash them and roast them in a hot oven (225*C/425*F/ gas mark 7) until blistered, take them out, pop them into a plastic bag, let sweat, peel and chop up. You can discard the seeds if you want less heat.
I blitzed the beans, salsa, and peppers in my CookHouse Kitchen mini food processor. It works a charm. Dip flour tortillas in the result, fill with cheese, fold and fold again.
Placed into a baking dish, with the remaining sauce spooned over and additional cheese and baked, these are such a doddle to make and very quick as well.
You can have them on the table in about half an hour tops, and that is stretching it!
Top with sour cream and your favourite taco/nacho/enchilada toppings to serve.
I used sour cream, some salsa and a kind of fresh salsa that I made by chopping together fresh parsley, red onions, and green and black cured olives.
Normally I would have used spring onions, but I was lacking them, and I have to say what I did use was really, really delicious! YUMMY even!
*Enfrijoladas Bake*
Serves 5
What can I say . . . refried beans, green chilis, tortillas, salsa, cheese, delicious!
1 (435g) tin of refried beans (16 oz.)
1 can (4.5oz) tin of chopped green chilies
(I used 4 fresh jalapenos, roasted and chopped)
240ml thick and chunky salsa, any strength (1 cup)
240g 4-cheese blend (2 cups)
1 package (6 inch) flour tortillas for soft tacos and fahitas
To serve (Just some suggestions):
chopped spring onions or red onions
dairy sour cream
chopped black olives
grated cheese
chopped coriander
more salsa
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a 13 by 9 inch baking dish. Set aside.
I really hope you give these a go! They are simple and quick to make and I think your family will really love them. Mexican food is one of those things that doesn't really look overly appealing, but the flavours are really delicious. I used corn and wheat tortillas which is what I had and they worked beautifully. Provecheeto!!
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Oh yum! I have everything on hand, so I shall make these on the weekend as they sound scrumptious! I have started to embrace Tex-Mex flavours thanks to you - it was a cuisine that I did not know much about as it wasn't available in Australia when I was growing up. Here in Sweden it seems pretty popular, so there is a good range of spices, tacos and condiments and with your recipes I've been able to try out and enjoy them. I know that your lovely Enchiladas Calabaza is a firm favourite with the vegetarian family members! So thank you for introducing Tex-Mex to me.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me really happy Marie! I hope you enjoy these as we really did! I live in hope that one day we will be able to buy the tinned green chilies here! In the meantime it is not really much of a hardship for me to,roast my own! Xo
DeleteJust a quick question. When you dip the tortillas, do you coat both sides? I'd think maybe yes, but just wanted to make sure.
DeleteAbsolutely Marie. I just squashed one side down in the sauce, then flipped it over and squashed down the other side. Not all of it sticks, but it doesn’t matter because you spoon the remaining sauce over at the end! I am excited for you because I just know you are going to love this! Xo
DeleteAnd you were right! I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who wants to try it. I found it a fast and very easy meal to put together and it was both filling and quite delicious. I served mine with my favourite mango salsa, a pea and avocado guacamole, plus chopped tomato, red onion and black olives. We enjoyed it very much!
DeleteOh, that sounds like a great combination of flavourful go-withs Marie! Mango salsa, I adore mango. I bet it is fabulous! Happy you both enjoyed this! xoxo
DeleteThe mango salsa is easy. I use a mango chopped, 1 tomato chopped, 1/4 of a cucumber finely diced, 1/2 red onion, finely diced, 1 TBSP lime juice, 1 TBSP olive oil, 1 clove of garlic finely diced, 1/2 TBSP finely diced fresh coriander, 1-2 tsp of finely diced red chilli and salt to taste. Mix it all together and there you have it.
DeleteThanks very much Marie! It sounds fabulous!
DeleteHello Marie. I love your recipes and very much enjoy your blog. I'm a basic cook, not adventurous but you inspire me to have a go. Thank you. I checked amazon.co.uk, Ocado and Waitrose online and found lots of canned, sliced and whole jalapenos. Would they work? As I don't live in or near a large town, I often buy hard-to-find ingredients in these three places.
ReplyDeleteI think those jalapeños are the pickled ones, and certainly you could use them. Just get rid of the seeds and only use as many as you think you can stand heat-wise! They are very hot! I tend to buy the fresh green jalapeño chilli peppers and roast my own. I am sure you can get them at Waitrose in the produce aisle, in packs of 3 or 4, probably mixed with red chillis. That is what I use!
DeleteI have to start embracing it! We never eat TexMex..I bet I would like it all:)
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it is anything like real Mexican food, but that’s okay! It’s delicious delicious nonetheless! I am a huge TexMex fan! Xo
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