Enchiladas: part 1

Uncle Tommy is coming! My brother Tom hasn't met his new niece yet and is coming in from Colorado to see her and Gavyn! He should be here tomorrow morning. So I asked him what he wanted for dinner, and like most men, he said he didn't care. After I gave him some options, we agreed on enchiladas. We both developed a love for enchiladas after tasting a casserole a friend made up in Minnesota. This recipe is a little more authentic, and hopefully even better!

I am going of this recipe from Bev Cooks. They are shredded beef enchiladas. Usually I would make my enchiladas vegetarian by using beans, but I know my boy likes meat. Anyway, I wanted to make it completely unprocessed, for blogging sake. So I am going to start with the enchilada sauce. When I looked up this recipe, most had me using canned tomatoes. Not bad, but I wanted to take it a step further and use fresh tomatoes.

I started by peeling the tomatoes with the ol' boil and shock method. I started with 10 roma tomatoes.

They boiled for just a minute or two, then....

started to get nice and peel-y, so into the cold water they went!

 The peels came of nice and easy

I then put them in a blender and let 'er rip! I didn't seed my tomatoes because I really don't mind the seeds or the extra juice, but some people do.

Then to make the sauce. I made a rue using olive oil and flour - 4 tablespoons of each (it seems like a lot, but this is a big batch) and I also added in the 5 tablespoons of chili powder.

I then slowly started adding my tomato sauce. I knew if I tried to just dump it all in it wouldn't blend well, so I did it slowly.

Once it wasn't such a goupy mess I added it to the rest of the tomato sauce

And then added the spices. Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and cumin.

I also added chicken broth (not my own yet, I know - but soon).

After it started to simmer I let it do that for a bit and then it was done! This is about enough to make 3 batches of enchiladas. Totally cost efficient.

I'm going to use 1/3 for this week, 1/3 for a taco pizza, and the jar is going in the pantry

Tada! I waited until after I made the stuff to take a look at the can and see what was in it - and this is what I found:

Can someone tell me why this sauce needs color added? I'm so excited to use my own sauce!

So step two will be homemade tortillas and then in step 3 I'll make the enchiladas! Come on back and check it out!

Homemade Enchilada Sauce
8-10 roma tomatoes
4 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 T flour
5 T chili powder
1 1/2 t onion powder
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 1/2 t salt
2 1/2 t cumin
3 cups chicken stock

Boil the tomatoes until peeling, and then put into a cold water bath. peel with your hands and then add to a blender and whir them up. Combine olive oil, flour, and chili powder in a pot and whisk until combined and thickened - a couple minutes. Slowly add in tomato sauce, whisking as you go. Then add all the seasonings and the stock, and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. It should thicken slightly. If you wanted to make it hot and spicy, go ahead and add either some hot sauce or cayenne pepper or even fresh hot chilis - whatever you like.