CHEESE ENCHILADAS ARE
comfort food at its fi nest: earthy
corn tortillas fi lled with melty cheese
and covered in a deeply fl avorful,
spiced-but-not-spicy chile sauce.
Simple and satisfying.
But enchiladas can be laborious to
make: Toasting, soaking, and grind-
ing dried chile peppers for the sauce
takes some time and eff ort—and that’s
before you get to fi lling and rolling the
tortillas. Some recipes even insist on
using homemade tortillas. I wanted a
simpler, more direct path to the same
hearty, complex fl avor, and I wanted to
make just enough for two.
For the tortillas, I knew I was going
with the store-bought corn variety.
Our testing has proven that wrapping
a stack of tortillas in a clean towel
and microwaving them is a fast way
to bloom their fl avor and make them
pliable enough to roll around a cheese
fi lling. Easy.
Texans love their dark, thick chile
sauce (some call it gravy), and many
see it as the quintessential example
of Tex-Mex food. Like poultry gravy,
it’s based on broth thickened with a
roux (made with fl our and oil or lard).
But instead of getting its fl avor from
meat drippings, it’s powered by dried
chiles—typically anchos—and spices.
Good store-bought chili powder is a
combination of dried chiles and spices,
and I found that as long as I toasted the
chili powder in oil to fully activate its
fl avor, it was a great timesaving substi-
tute for my streamlined version.
After several days of testing, I nailed
down the method for making the
chile sauce. First I sautéed chopped
onion in a little oil in a 10-inch skillet.
Then I added the chili powder, fl our,
some tomato paste for sweetness and
depth, garlic, oregano, and pepper.
Once these ingredients had bloomed
in the hot oil (which took only about
a minute), I whisked in chicken broth
and cooked the sauce down until it
thickened slightly, which took about
4 minutes.
From there, all I had to do was roll
up the cheese in six tortillas, line up the
enchiladas in the skillet, pour on the
sauce, top with cheese, and bake until
the cheese melted. Garnished with a
little more chopped onion and a squirt
of lime for freshness, these easy, cheesy
enchiladas are fast enough for a week-
night and sure to please any old time.
TEX-MEX CHEESE ENCHILADAS
FOR TWO
If you do not have a 10-inch skillet,
make the sauce in a 12-inch skillet and
transfer the remaining sauce in step 1 to
an 8-inch square baking pan. In step 2,
arrange the enchiladas in the baking pan
before adding the reserved sauce and
the remaining cheese.SAUCE
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup fi nely chopped onion
1½ tablespoons chili powder
1½ tablespoons all-purpose fl our
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon pepper
1½ cups chicken brothENCHILADAS
6 (6-inch) corn tortillas
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese,
shredded (2 cups), divided
2 tablespoons fi nely chopped onion
Lime wedges- FOR THE SAUCE: Adjust oven
rack to middle position and heat oven
to 450 degrees. Heat oil in 10-inch
ovensafe skillet over medium heat until
shimmering. Add onion and cook until
softened, about 3 minutes. Add chili
powder, fl our, tomato paste, garlic,
oregano, and pepper and cook until
fragrant, about 1 minute. Gradually
whisk in broth and bring to simmer.
Cook until slightly thickened, about
4 minutes. Remove from heat. Measure
out 1 cup sauce and set aside, leaving
remaining sauce in skillet. - FOR THE ENCHILADAS:
Stack tortillas and wrap in damp dish
towel. Microwave until pliable, about
30 seconds. Place ¼ cup Monterey
Jack across center of 1 tortilla, tightly
roll tortilla around cheese, and place
seam side down in sauce in skillet.
Repeat with remaining 5 tortillas and
1¼ cups Monterey Jack, arranging
enchiladas side by side in single row
in skillet. - Pour reserved sauce over enchiladas
and sprinkle with remaining ½ cup
Monterey Jack. Bake, covered, until
cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.
Uncover and continue to bake until
sauce is bubbling around edges, about
5 minutes longer. Sprinkle with onion
and serve with lime wedges.
COOKING FOR TWOTex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas
We pared down the parts and the process but kept the deep, rich fl avor.
by Alli Berkey
A Faster Path to Deep Flavor
We love the rich, deep fl avor that dried chiles
impart to Tex-Mex enchilada sauce, which is
also called chile gravy. But for a quick
dinner to serve two, we found
that good store-bought
chili powder—in
combination with
garlic, oregano, and
tomato paste—
made a great, and
easier, substitute.A squeeze of lime adds a burst of energy to this comforting weeknight dish.JUNE/JULY 2019 • COOK’S COUNTRY 29