Stacked Beef Enchiladas

 Another dish from the kitchen of Gramma Dorothy. Our family has come to know and love enchiladas made this way and it is frequently requested for Christmas and birthday dinners. You can use any red enchilada sauce you prefer, I am still looking for the perfect one myself.

2# lean ground beef
2 lg. onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 8 oz. can El Pato Mexican Style tomato sauce
2-3 doz. corn tortillas
2 28 oz. cans red chili sauce or red enchilada sauce
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. flour
1 sm. can sliced black olives
Mexican Four Cheese blend or a mix of Monterey Jack and Colby

Garnish:
Sour cream with a dash of paprika
Green onion for
Shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes

Dice the onion, but reserve half for assembling the enchiladas. In a skillet over med/hi heat brown half the diced onions, garlic and ground beef. When good and browned add in the el pato and mix in well. Remove from heat. In a saucepan add the red chili sauce. In a small mixing bowl melt the butter (in the microwave is fine) and whisk in the flour. Drizzle into sauce mixture and allow to thicken. If it gets thicker than you like, thin with more el pato or tomato sauce depending on how hot you like your sauce. Remove from heat. Place 4-6 tortillas in a quart size freezer zip lock. Leave it unzipped. Put in the microwave for about 40 seconds to soften tortillas. (You can also dip them in hot oil for a second or two, but this adds more calories and fat).

On an oven proof plate ladle a small amount of sauce. Maybe a couple tablespoons. Lay a tortilla flat on the sauce and add a thin layer of meat, more sauce, a layer of cheese and some diced onion. Repeat layers until the desired amount (per persons order) is achieved. Top layers with a corn tortilla, more sauce, cheese and a few olives. Put into a 350º oven to bake for about 10-15 minutes. You can stack on both oven racks. I sometimes put more diced onions on the tops of the people who like onions to distinguish those from the people who prefer no onion on their enchiladas before putting them in the oven. In New Mexico they add a fried egg to to the top, but I’ve never eaten them that way. Remove with hot pads and serve. I use cloth placemats to protect my table from the hot plate, but trivets, or dishtowels or even a hotpad under the plate would work too. 
Garnish with sour cream and chopped green onions, lettuce and tomato. Serve with chips and salsa and maybe a side of mexican corn.

This pic of Daron enjoying his enchiladas at the cabin seems to be the only pic I can find of this dish. I will try to remember to take pics next time I make it and update.

Nana's Sunday Roast

Sunday roast dinner. Growing up I remember this most often on Sunday. I would see Nana in the kitchen before church browning the roast to put in the black roaster pan she got in germany. She had two sizes of that pan. One big and one little. She used the big one most of the time. The inside of that pan was blue I think. Great pans. Her meat choice was a rump roast or a sirloin tip roast. I don't think I ever saw her cook a chuck roast. Most of the time they were rolled up and tied with string. Not so much anymore.

The first time I tried to do a roast for dinner was in Provo, UT my freshman year at BYU. Nana got the phone call (back when it was long distance and expensive). "Mom, how do I start a roast?" She walked me through it and I hung up convinced it would be easy. It was, but I let the oil get too hot and we had a little fire in the pan. Glad my roommate knew to put a lid on it to smother it. Wonder how she knew that? LOL. After the fire drama was over I managed to get the roast in the oven.

Nana's method:
First, salt, pepper a little granulated garlic is nice and rub seasonings into the roast on all sides.



In a frying pan big enough for your roast to sit in, put about 1/4 C. of whatever cooking oil you like. Turn on medium/high heat. Doesn't take long to heat up.



Now brown the roast on all sides. It only needs 30 seconds to a minute,(no more) on each side. This process simply seals in the juices for a more moist roast. Crock pot roasts don't usually need this step but I do it anyway. It seems like it just tastes better.



Place the roast in your pan. Nana always used a little round or oval raised rack to set the roast on in the roaster. This allows the liquid in the pan to get under the roast and keeps it from burning on the bottom. Add a cup or so of water or beef stock or just throw in some bouillon cubes with your water. She always put a peeled onion in at the side of the roast to add flavor. In later years she would add a couple sections of garlic also. Papa likes to eat a little of the roast onion.



Nana would now add a number of peeled carrots around the roast. Carrots take longer than potatoes to cook, so she put them in on the bottom and then after about an hour she would add in peeled potatoes. Just writing this makes me hungry for her tender roast, with roast potatoes and carrots. Such memories.

Set the oven to 325º and roast for 4-6 hours. If you have a meat thermometer the internal temperature should be 160ºF for medium/well. 170ºF for well done.
If you are using the crockpot allow about 8 hours on high for a medium to large roast.
I cut my carrots in half lengthwise for cooking in the crock pot since they have a harder time getting done.