recipe: enchiladas

This is not a particularly complicated dish, but it was tasty, and a success (not a guarantee by any means when I cook) so I thought I would share it. Partly because it was simple, partly because I happened to have some pictures - albeit not the best food photography you will have ever seen, and partly because I had an urge to post something tonight and this was a title I had saved in my drafts folder as a prompt for just such an occasion.

Making this was actually borne out of an accidental opening of a tin of kidney beans (a case of mistaken identity, they were falsely accused of being chopped tomatoes). Not wanting to let them go to waste I found this recipe in one of the three Hairy Bikers books that live permanently on the stand next to my oven and adapted it as the kidney beans I had opened weren't in chilli sauce. Recipe located, I got the rest of the ingredients the following day (bar the lime) and this made a lovely Saturday night supper for The Husband and I. Rather than making the four portions the recipe calls for, I just did two, with added spiced potato wedges from a recipe in one of their other books for the ever-hungry husband. The rest of the mixture has gone in the freezer ready for another night - batch cooking always makes me happy.

My splodging of salsa and sour cream seemed somewhat lacking in the aesthetics department, but it was really tasty. In other news, and as part of my developing 30th birthday plans, I have just signed up for a 5k and a 10k run over the next 6 months - eek!

Enchiladas

Serves 4, Prep Time 20 Minutes, Cooking Time 50 Minutes

(Recipe from The Hairy Dieters Eat for Life)

Ingredients

450g beef mince (extra lean*)

1 medium onion

2 garlic cloves

400g can of kidney beans (drained)

400g tin chopped tomatoes

3 tbsp tomato puree

1tsp dried chilli flakes

1tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp paprika

400ml beef stock (made with 1 beef stock cube)

8 tortilla wraps

50g cheddar cheese (half fat*)

150g creme fraiche (half fat*)

3 tbsp tomato salsa

fresh coriander

salt

pepper

oil

lime wedges (optional)

*reduced fat options included in original recipe as it is a healthy eating/calorie counting cook book - use whichever options suit you!

Recipe

• Chop onion and garlic. Fry in large non-stick pan with beef mince. Break up mince with a wooden spoon and cook for 5 minutes.

• Add kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika and tomato puree and stir well. Pour over the beef stock, season well with salt and pepper, and mix. 

• Heat until simmering, then reduce heat and leave to simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes, until mixture has reduced and thickened. While mixture is simmering preheat oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Spray/brush a small amount of oil into a large shallow ovenproof dish.

• Place an 1/8th of the mixture in a tortilla wrap, top with an 1/8th of the cheese, and then fold the wrap up and place in dish. I tend to put the filling in the middle, fold up the bottom, fold over either side, leave the top open and place the wrap folded side down in the dish. Repeat until all 8 wraps are made and mixture is used up.

• Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 5 minutes.

• Before serving spoon over the creme fraiche, salsa, coriander, and lime wedges if using.

• Season with black pepper and serve.