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New Mexico Red Chile Cheese Enchiladas

Categories: Comfort Food | Ethnic | Mains & Sides

[18 Aug 2010 | By Cecily | 2 Comments ]

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A big welcome to our newest contributor, Cecily!  Read a little about her here…

Red or green? That’s the New Mexico state question; as in, would you like red or green chile on your enchiladas?  Having lived in southern New Mexico for seven years, I love red chile.  Well, I love green too, come to think of it.  I continue to crave these red enchiladas even though we left NM three years ago.  My recipe is a simple 3-ingredient version of this classic potluck dish.  These enchiladas are layered, lasagna style, not rolled.  You can do rolled as well, but this is easier.  I’ve enjoyed red enchiladas both ways in restaurants, but always layered at potlucks and parties.

Choose a canned red enchilada sauce with dried red chiles listed as the first ingredient (I like La Preferrida from the Mexican foods section of the grocery store).  Red chile sauce is spicy and bitter.  If you’re feeling industrious, you can try to make your own red sauce.  If you do, good luck!  It’s easy to make it too spicy!

Enjoy these cheesy, gooey NM favorites!

Ingredients

20-30 corn tortillas (I like La Banderita and use their 27.5 oz. package.  I always have some extras)

28 oz can of Red Enchilada Sauce

3-4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Extras

Diced onion

Fried egg

Serves 4

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray.
2. Spread layer of red sauce over bottom of pan.
3. Place two layers of four (more or less) corn tortillas over sauce. You can tear them to fill any gaps as needed.
4. Top 1 cup of cheese.
5. Repeat 3-4 times.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

I top my enchiladas with tons of diced onion and a fried egg (over easy) when I plate them, just as they do at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Jalisco Café, in Silver City, NM.  Sounds weird, but the creamy yolk is the perfect complement to the spicy enchiladas.

This dish goes great with beans, a green salad, and a cold beer.

These enchiladas are even better the next day!

Tags: cheese, enchiladas, vegetarian

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