Cheese and Onion Enchiladas

Step 1

Start by rinsing and de-stemming the tomatoes. Roast them in the oven (400F) for 20 minutes or until you need them.

Step 2

Wipe off any dusty crevasses on the dried chiles, then de-stem and de-seed them.  Roast the chile pieces in the oven at 400F for 1-2 minutes.  Once roasted you can add the chile pieces to a bowl, cover with hot tap water, and let them reconstitute for 20-30 minutes.

Step 3

Roughly chop an onion. Saute the onion in a glug of oil over medium heat along with 3 whole, peeled garlic cloves. Cook until the onion is starting to brown.

Step 4

Note: before draining the dried chiles you can take a taste of their soaking liquid. If you like the flavor you are welcome to use it in place of stock for the sauce. If, like me, you think it tastes bitter then it's best to use stock for your enchilada sauces.

Step 5

Drain the dried chiles.  Add the drained chiles, the roasted tomatoes, the onion-garlic mixture, and 3 cups of stock to a blender.  Blend until smooth.  You can optionally strain the blender sauce through a fine mesh sieve and discard the leftover seeds and skin, but lately I skip this step.

Step 6

Cook the enchilada sauce for a few minutes over medium heat in the same pan that cooked the onion-garlic mixture.  Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and some freshly cracked black pepper.  Let simmer for a few minutes and then take a final taste for seasoning.

Step 7

Warm up the corn tortillas in the oven for 1-2 minutes, or cover them with a damp paper towel and nuke them in the microwave for 60 seconds.

Step 8

Shred 1/2 lb. of melting cheese (I used Jack) and finely chop 1/2 an onion for the insides of the enchiladas.

Step 9

To build the enchiladas, start by adding a few tablespoons of the sauce to a plate.  Dredge a tortilla in the sauce and flip it over. Fill with plenty of cheese and finely chopped onion.  Roll tight and set them seam side down in a baking dish. You can add some sauce to the baking dish to prevent sticking.  You'll get about 8-10 enchiladas from this recipe, depending on how much filling you use in each tortilla -- I loaded these up and got 8 enchiladas from this batch.

Step 10

Cover the rolled enchiladas with sauce and bake for 8-10 minutes (400F) or until the cheese is melted. Top with your choice of fixings (I used Queso Fresco and freshly chopped cilantro) and serve immediately.