What's For Dinner: Enchiladas

Time to give the slow cooker a rest! D brought back some corn tortillas (with only three ingredients: corn, water, and lime!) from Santa Fe, so I decided that enchiladas were in order. I melded together two recipes; one from the New York Times and another from the Food Network.

Black Bean Enchiladas with Seasoned Rice

makes 2-3 servings

For the Black Bean Enchiladas:

olive oil

1/2 C white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 C salsa (your choice of spiciness, I used medium)

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

6 corn tortillas (I used a combination of yellow and blue corn tortillas)

1 small can tomato sauce

cumin

chili powder

taco seasoning [optional; I prefer a hand-mixed blend]

1 C pepperjack cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place 2 T olive oil in the bottom of a thick pot over medium heat. Saute together the onion and garlic, about two minutes. Add in the black beans, salsa, and chopped chipotle peppers. Stir to mix. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Remove the black bean mixture from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, add 1-2 T of olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add in a pinch of cumin and a pinch of chili pepper. (I ran out of cumin midway through so substituted a pinch of hand-mixed taco seasoning from the Savory Spice Shop.) Mix in 3 T of tomato sauce. Soften one tortilla at a time in the tomato mixture, cooking for about 10-20 seconds on each side. Move the tortillas to a flat surface after softened.

5. To put together the enchiladas, place several spoonfuls of the black bean mixture into the middle of each tortilla, and roll. Place the enchiladas seam-side down in a shallow baking dish.

6. Cover each enchilada with an equal amount of the shredded pepperjack cheese.

7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Serve the enchiladas alongside Seasoned Rice:

1 C water

1 C instant brown rice

2 t taco seasoning

1 T fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.

2. Add the brown rice and taco seasoning. Cover and reduce the heat to low/medium low. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. After five minutes, give the rice a stir. Re-cover and remove from the heat. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Add the chopped cilantro to garnish.

*Rice always seems to take forever to cook here at high altitude (7200') -- I tend to cook the rice on low/medium low for about 15 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.

Plate and serve the enchiladas and rice. Optional garnishes include sour cream, guacamole, and/or salsa.