A vegetarian red chile enchilada made restaurant style - one plate at a time. An easy prep and a quick microwave yield a spicy enchilada smothered in New Mexico red chile.
This recipe assumes that you have already made or purchased the red chile sauce.*
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Heat in the microwave on high on a rotating tray for 2 minutes. (Time depends on the wattage of your microwave. After 2 minutes the cheese should be melted and the sauce bubbly.)
Red chile sauce – Make your own or purchase. Red chile comes mild, medium and hot. In order to taste the chile but still get a little burn, I normally choose medium spiciness.
If you don’t make your red chile sauce from scratch, purchase it. Some grocery stores carry red chile sauce in the ethnic section or in the frozen foods section. Just be sure that the first ingredient in the list of ingredients is “red chile” and not tomato. You can also purchase red chile sauce online from a variety of New Mexico chile product suppliers. If you can't find red chile sauce, then a red chile enchilada sauce works. It's not as good, but it still works.
The cheese is your choice. My standard is a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack. Feta cheese, queso fresco, or cotija cheese also work quite well. They yield enchiladas closer to what I would call “Mexican” rather than “New Mexican”, but still quite tasty!
Stacked vs. rolled – As I mentioned in a previous post, I prefer my enchiladas stacked rather than rolled. However, if you like rolled enchiladas, you can always roll up some onion, olives and cheese in the chile dipped tortillas and then smother them in the red chile.
Multiple servings – You can easily make these enchiladas for more than two people by making a stacked enchilada casserole (kind of like a lasagne). In a rectangular casserole dish assembly 2 to 3 layers of chile dipped tortillas (3 to 6 tortillas per layer), onion, black olives, and cheese. Bake in the oven at 350° F (177 °C) for 25 minutes. To see a more detailed procedure for making stacked enchiladas, see the “Assembly” instructions for my Calabacitas Enchiladas.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen