Enchilada Casserole of the Day

There are many enchilada casseroles. All of them are just lazy enchiladas because someone named Mom was too tired to roll them all up beautifully and cover them in a delicious sauce and then the pickiest eater won't eat it anyways. After all that work. Well. Not happening most days. It's easier to just throw it all in a pan, put it on cook for a half hour and hopefully get 10 minutes of a nap somewhere in there. Remember to line your pan with foil or you'll be soaking that pan overnight trying to get the baked tortilla cheese grit off of it.

Some Enchilada Casserole recipe I pulled out of my head one day

Good brand of corn tortillas

Shredded cheese

Mix these well:

garlic, onion, salt and pepper

Can diced green chilis

can diced tomatos

can of El Pato sauce of choice (I'd rather the green one but red or yellow is okay)

can of cream of mushroom soup

 1/2 can of water

amount of 3 cooked chicken breasts, shredded or diced well (or ground beef)

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all ingredients together but the tortillas and cheese. This is your chicken mix. In a greased foiled pan, layer torn corn tortillas in a double layer. Add 1/2 the chicken mix. Sprinkle lots of cheese on it. Layer again with more tortillas. Add rest of chicken, sprinkle lots of cheese. Pour over it some Herdez green or red chili sauce. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or so. 

So you can basically take any enchilada recipe and casserole it, is what I'm saying. It won't look pretty but it's faster and less messy to make. Casserole style is so 1970s and this is what you all grew up with. 

Tortillas for when there is no place to buy them fresh

There is nothing like an amazingly hot fresh tortilla. Eat it plain, eat it with butter. We would buy fresh tortillas from La Fama in Glendale and eat a half dozen on the way home. They were the best. The factory recently had a car decide to fly at high speed into the tamale freezer and damage the supports for the whole building. RIP mi familia La Fama. Stevie and I grew up on those conchas and tortillas. Best tamales on the planet, too. I hope it works out for them to re-open. The other memorable tortillas I've had was when we stayed with the Villa brothers auntie in El Monte. She made tortillas while watching her stories on the tv and made sure we ate them for every meal and then took some on the road with us. They were delicious.

These recipes is for when you are living somewhere like Wahiawa or Guam or Korea and can't get some fresh from a Nana or street vendor. These will have to do. Making them into rounds is a gift this white west side girl hasn't perfected. Cindy told me hers always made into crackers. Mine always look like one of the 50 states of America in shape. Either way, they taste alright. The resting period helps the doughs properties call upon devil satan gluten to formulate into a delicious texture.

If you have a cast iron comal, it makes a world of difference. What, you have no comal on your stove right now? What's wrong with you. GET A COMAL. GET IT NOW. Season the heck out of it and use it for everything. Eric uses ours for grilled sandwiches, quesadillas and pancakes. That's how seasoned it is. Just wipes clean after every use. Okay, I'll shut up now. Recipes onward.

Flour tortillas 

8 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 TBS salt

1/2 cup LARD (shortening will have to do, but use Crisco. Not cheap watery store brand crap)

3 1/4 cups cold water

Mix dry. Add lard, blending in with clean hands. Add warm water a bit at a time and mix well. Knead for 10 minutes. Cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead again for 10, cover,  let rest for 15. 

Pinch off small balls. Let rest again, covered, for 20-30 minutes. 

You can pat them between your hands until smooth and thin or you can gringa it out with a rolling pin. Either way, get them thin but not too thin. Or you have crackers. 

Heat comal or griddle. Add flattened tortilla and bake on one side until it bubbles. Flip quickly and let cook for another 30 seconds or so. Place on plate and cover with towel and make the rest quickly. 

Tortillas-that are supposed to be low fat but are easier to flatten out. 

6 cups flour

1 t. baking POWDER

1 t. salt

1 1/2 - 2 cups warm water

1/2 cup vegetable or corn oil

Mix dry. Add oil and blend. Add water slowly mix well. Knead, let rest 10 minutes. Make into balls, let rest again for 20 minutes. Roll out and bake on comal or griddle like above.