cheese enchiladas

Yee gawds, I love Mexican food. Even bastardized Mexican food. Enchiladas, fajitas, chalupas, chimichangas. Give them alll to me! And, I will eat them. This is the newest endeavor into my love of Mexican food- a slightly more authentic enchilada. These aren't just covered with canned enchilada sauce. Oh no. They are DIPPED in a doctored up enchilada sauce. I haven't made the foray into the world of making my own enchilada sauce. Don't judge.

Radar judges me enough as it is. His favorite pastime is judging people.

This is how you doctor up the enchilada sauce- heat some vegetable oil over medium high heat and whisk in some flour. You're basically going to make a rue with oil instead of butter.

Unlike a rue with butter, you're not going to get super thick and you won't get super deep color. However, it will thicken slightly but it will also give the sauce a little tooth.

Here's where you really doctor it up. Add a couple cans of enchilada sauce, crack in some pepper, toss in some salt, shake in some garlic powder and sprinkle in a tiny bit of cayenne pepper.

Alrighty, now set up your enchilada building station. Sauce on one side, cheese on the other, additions in the middle with the cutting board.

Before you start assembling the enchiladas, you need to doctor up the tortillas just like the enchilada sauce. Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat and fry each tortilla. Now, when I say fry, I mean heat them enough that they are pliable and tender, and not crunchy. Pliable. Not crunchy.

Like these! See? Not crunchy at all.

Okay, so step one for assembly is to dip each of those softened tortillas into the jazzed up enchilada sauce. Let the sauce drip off a little bit, then transfer to your cutting board.

Here's where you add your filler. I used a mix of mild cheddar and sharp white cheddar cheese with green chilies and black olives. So good. Fold over each side, flip over so they are seam side down and pop into your pan.

NOTE! Make sure the bottom of your baking pan has some enchilada sauce so they don't stick to the bottom.

Repeat, repeat, repeat until all the tortillas and cheese are gone.

Top with the additional enchilada sauce, the extra green chilies and black olives, as well as the cheese. You'll notice that there isn't much cheese left... that's not a bad thing.

20 minutes later, and this is what pops out. The sauce is bubbly, the cheese is all melted, and all this is calling for is some cilantro and a nice cold beer. Delish.

Cheese Enchiladas
8 taco sized flour tortillas
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
2 cups shredded mild cheddar
2 10 oz. cans enchilada sauce
1 7 oz. can sliced black olives
1 5 oz. can diced green chilies
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1 Tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat and whisk in flour. Let cook for 1 minute then add in enchilada sauce, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Let simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and transfer to a shallow bowl. Pour about 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into a 9x13 inch baking pan to coat bottom. Heat about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Fry each tortilla, one at a time, until they are soft and supple, about 20 seconds per side. Let drain on a paper towel. Assemble each warmed tortilla by layering green chilies, black olives and cheese. Fold over each side and lay seam side down in baking pan. Repeat until all tortillas and cheese is gone. Top with remaining black olives, green chilies and cheese. Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas and place in preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly hot. Serve with cilantro and enjoy!