Double Take: Smothered Enchiladas

Confession #1: Although I've tried a variety of Mexican food, this is my first time eating enchiladas. 

Confession #2: I was slightly anxious about trying them because they never appealed to me in restaurants. 
Confession #3: I can be a bit hesitant about recipes containing cream of chicken soup and/or sour cream.

When Mel picked this recipe out, I said to myself, its good to try new things. I hope it tastes good. Spoiler Alert: It tastes very good! As Lydia Bastianich is prone to say, “Let me taste it for you.” A soft tortilla wraps around a taco meat filling that is more than your average bear. The meat has the added bonus of little green chiles which are not hot but add nice flavor and texture to the filling. As you take a bite, you notice the sweet and moderately spicy flavors of the salsa blending with at once cheesy and creamy sauce that surrounds the tortilla. These flavors are followed by the texture and taste of the taco meat filling with bonus green chiles. If you’ll excuse me a minute, I have an enchilada (or two) to finish.

Smothered Enchilada with Peach Mango Salsa

Smothered Enchiladas (adapted from All New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)

Ingredients

1  pounds ground beef

1  (1 1/4-ounce) package mild taco seasoning mix

1/3 c. water

1  (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, divided

1  (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of chicken soup

1  (8-ounce) container sour cream

8  (8-inch) flour tortillas

2  cups  (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

Garnishes: Homemade Salsa, chopped fresh cilantro

How To:

Brown ground beef in a large skillet, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix, water (fill the empty seasoning packet with it ~ 1/3 c.) and half of chopped green chiles; set aside.

Stir together remaining green chiles, soup, and sour cream. Pour half of soup mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

Spoon beef mixture evenly down centers of tortillas; roll up. Place, seam sides down, over soup mixture in baking dish; top evenly with remaining soup mixture and cheese.

Ready for the oven

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish, as desired. (I used peach and mango salsa.)

Hot out of the oven!

What I thought:

I was pleasantly surprised. Sweet and spicy meeting up with a whirlwind of texture from chunky salsa to creamy sauce to crumbly filling makes for a little Mexican party in your mouth.

Test #1: How does it taste fresh? A: J.

Test #2: How does it taste reheated? J.

If you have 4 people, leftovers aren’t likely. General responses to the reheated food in the breakroom at work: Oh my gosh, you made that? (Its simple to make but it looks impressive.) Wow that smells incredible. (It really does.) In fact, there was a vegetarian that even liked the smell of it. Variations: You could easily change the filling to a lentil taco filling (instead of beef) or even go with a cheese filling. I would definitely recommend the recipe as modified above.

Drop by Mel's blog, FabulouslyFunFood, to see her thoughts and variations.