Friday, July 31, 2009

Vegetable Enchiladas


Today's lunch was Vegetable Enchiladas, which really hit the spot on this rainy afternoon. I love experimenting with vegetable entrees, and this one's a keeper. I believe this recipe originally appeared in the magazine Everyday Food. A fellow personal chef brought it to my attention, and I thought about making it today because I was pretty sure I had everything I needed in the fridge and pantry. Don't you love it when that happens?

I used leftover corn on the cob from last night as well as an opened can of beans from Wednesday's Taco Night. I'm sure I didn't use 3 cups of cheese; I'm just not that into cheese. But you go ahead and use as much as you like.

The recipe makes eight hefty enchiladas; if you don't need that many, the easiest thing to do is make the full batch but divide it between two 8x8 dishes. Bake one dish now and freeze one for another time.

Vegetable Enchiladas
Serves 8

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon hot chili powder -- more or less, to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can reduced-sodium vegetable broth -- (14 1/2 ounces)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cups grated Jack cheese (I used soy cheese. Any cheese you like is fine here)
1 can Kuner's Seasoned black beans -- (15 ounces)(if you can't find this brand, use plain old black beans and add some cumin and chili powder to the mix)
1 box frozen chopped spinach -- (10 ounces) thawed and squeezed dry
1 box frozen corn kernels -- (10 ounces) thawed, or corn cut from 4 - 5 ears of corn
6 scallions -- thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
8 corn or flour tortillas

Make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add cumin, chili powder, flour, and tomato paste; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Make filling: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups cheese, beans, spinach, corn, and scallion whites; taste and season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil two 8-inch square baking dishes; set aside. If using very stiff tortillas, stack them up, wrap in damp paper towels and microwave on high for 1 minute to make them more pliable (or stack and wrap in aluminum foil, and heat in oven for 5 to 10 minutes). Top each tortilla with a heaping 1/3 cup of filling; roll up tightly and arrange, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.

Dividing evenly, sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1 cup cheese, and top with sauce.

Either bake or freeze. To bake, place uncovered pan in preheated 400 degree oven until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; serve garnished with scallion greens.

To freeze, wrap tightly and freeze. Thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight and then bake as directed above.

3 comments:

susan said...

Sounds yummy. I haven't tried any corn on the cob yet this season. Wasn't sure how it would be with all the rain. Have you had luck with it?

Martha said...

It hasn't been spectacular. Last year I really liked the corn I got at Berberian Farms in N'boro. Haven't been there lately. I'll let you know if I hit gold anytime soon.

amycaseycooks said...

These will be fantastic for dinner. I love the easy sauce and I usually have a crisper drawer full of veggies to use up.