Mmm MMM, were these delicious. This started when I was craving some enchiladas. The only vegetarian enchiladas served at restaurants that I've found have been straight up cheese or basically tortillas stuffed with steamed vegetables. All cheese isn't particularly healthful and just straight up steamed vegetables is BORING. I want something spicy and cheesy with beans and tomatos and lots of goodies!
I haven't perfected this recipe yet. When I made the filling for the enchiladas I came out with twice as much as I needed for 10 enchiladas. 10 is a good amount for three people with leftovers. And these make great leftovers. I'm going to attempt to tailor this to be the perfect amount for 10 enchiladas. But I've gotta say the filling is great on bread, in tacos, and however else you can think to use it. It is seriously awesome.
Okey dokey, you're gonna need:
2 cans of black beans
1 can of whole steamed tomatos with mexican seasoning
7 garlic cloves
1 whole white or yeller onion
4 stalks green onions
1 package of button mushrooms (in the little styrofoam thing)
10 tortillas
Monterrey Jack cheese block
Cayenne
Chili powder
Paprika
Cumin
Salt and pepper
Optional:
Sweet yellow corn kernels, frozen or canned or cut off the cob
1 red pepper
1 pck frozen spinach
1 poblano pepper (roasted in the oven)
All of these optional items are a great way to mix it up but keep the same basic recipe. By knowing a few really good recipes and learning variations you can have many more meals out of one dish. Kiddos don't get sick of it and neither will you. It's also a good way to hone your taste buds so that you can start improvising your own recipes.
Now here's how you gotta do it:
Okey dokey, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. It couldn't hurt to start off by prepping all of your vegetables and things. Wash your shrooms thoroughly, chop the onions and garlic, drain and wash the black beans grate about two cups of cheese and open the rest of the cans you will be using. By preparing ahead of time you can drop everything into the pots when their time comes up. Things can get pretty crowded on a cutting board at this time but its worth it.
Mmkay start a medium pot over medium heat with a smidge of olive oil at the bottom, just enough to coat the bottom evenly. Drop in some cumin, paprika, pepper and cayenne. EASY ON THE CAYENNE. By easy, I mean put 1/4 of a tsp or less to start off. It gets very overpowering very fast so if you're not sure how you handle it go easy easy easy. Remember you can always add more later. Mmkay once that sizzles and becomes fragrant dump in your tomato with its juice plus your black beans and garlic. Scrape all the spices off the bottom so they get incorporated. Add some salt here if you want to. Let that bubble together. After about five minutes get out a mashed potato masher and crush all the little black beans and tomatos together. By crushing them you release their starches and it makes the mixture thicken into something more resembling a filling. Taste and alter the seasonings as necessary.
Once your beans are on the go you should get a shallow, wide pan and put it over medium-high heat. When that heats up toss in the mushrooms and onions. Do not use oil because the mushrooms will release liquid as they cook. Toss some chili powder, salt and pepper over the top of this and stir it together. Make sure you move it around every now and then so everything gets time at the bottom. Make sure you taste test both the mushrooms and onion so you get a texture you like. Personally I like my onions crunchy and my mushrooms firm on the inside. But taste test to find what you like. Pull them off when you deem they are done. Move them to a big bowl.
Time to go back to the beans. Check on them, stir them, taste them. Adjust seasonings if its necessary. If they are not quite thick enough you can let them cook off more or if you're impatient you can create a roux or use starch. I don't recommend either of these though. I would wait it out. When they come to a thick consistency that does not slide easily off of a spoon move them to the bowl with the mushrooms and onions. Stir all of that around and add some of the grated monterrey cheese, the optional poblano pepper and chopped green onions. Always always taste when you add something. This way you are constantly quality controlling at every step.
Now its time to fill your tortillas. Make sure your casserole dish or pyrex baking dish is on hand. Grease the pan with olive oil and a paper towel. This allows for more even distribution. Casserole dishes will usually fit 8 enchiladas on the bottom and then I stack the rest on top. You can do layers of cheese in between or not. This is also a great time to take personal preference into account. You can make less spicy ones for the kids or change up the ingredients based on preferences. So you can make half of them spicy and half of them not. This way everybody is happy!
So fill your tortillas with filling and roll them into little burrito looking things and lay them next to each other until you've either filled up your dish or run out of filling. Top them with more cheese and green onions. Bake until the cheese is gets bubbly and golden brown. YUM. Enjoy.
Oh and these make great leftovers. So delicious.
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