Monday night, I pulled a meal from the freezer that just needed to be heated up thanks to my meal swap group. I saved all of those meals while I was off knowing I would appreciate them more when I was back at work.
Last night I served J a 'plate of yellow' cleaning out a number of small amounts of various items from my freezer. Guess that hard cold reality of hurrying home to cook dinner was in its full glory on night #2.
Wednesday (tonight) 2/3 of us 'weren't really hungry' so I ate leftovers (which means at some point I did cook), and then heated up leftovers for J when he decided he too was hungry.
I'm keepin it real here.
Without a doubt my favorite meal I actually cooked in recent memory was the Beef Enchiladas, and I didn't make into enchiladas, but it was still wonderfully delicious. This is not a meal you could easily pull off on a weeknight because of the 2.5 hour baking time, but it is worth every bit of the effort for a weekend meal or when you have time.
Old-Fashioned Enchiladas (America's Test Kitchen)
- 3 lb chuck roast; cut in 1 1/2" pieces
- salt and pepper
- 2T oil
- 2 onions, minced (I cut mine pretty small, but not minced)
- 3T chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander (I couldn't find any of this at HEB)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 1/4 c dry red wine
- 2c grated cheddar (if preparing the enchiladas)
- 12 corn tortillas (same)
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat half of oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the beef and cook until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes, turning as needed. Transfer beef to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining oil and beef.
Add onions and 1/2 tsp salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook until the spices are fragrant and darken slightly. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the tomato sauce and wine, bring to a simmer scraping up any browned bits.
Return the beef, along with any accumulated juice to the sauce. Bring to a simmer, then cover teh pot and place in the oven. Cook until the meat is tender, 2 to 2.5 hours. ** This is where I put in a bowl and we ate dinner, like chili, but oh so better.** Transfer the beef to a plate. Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the solids and set aside. You should have about 2 cups sauce.
If continuing to the enchiladas, shred the beef into bite-sized pieces, place in a bowl. Add 1/4 c of sauce and 1c of the cheese, toss to combine.
Heat the tortillas and roll 1/3 c of beef mixture down the center of each tortilla, tightly roll and lay seam side down in a baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 375 for 20-25 min.
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