Recipe courtesy of Zachary Smith

Zach's Alotta Southwestern Enchiladas

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 8 to 10 large servings
Quote: "Not your mother's enchilada" This recipe was born during the always-popular Cinco de Mayo office celebration. While everyone was busy signing up for chips, dips and salsa, I wanted something different and uniquely authentic, as well as something that could serve as a meal. The result was a dish that not only was the first to go, but it served me personally as a springboard to creative cooking.
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Ingredients

For the steak:

2 pounds tri-tip steak, cut into large chunks

1 cup water

1/4 cup anejo tequila

1 clove garlic, minced

1 serrano chile, diced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the enchiladas:

5 (7-ounce) cans tomatillo sauce

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1 pound pepper Jack cheese, grated

3 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans

1 (7-ounce) can diced chiles

2 dozen flour tortillas

Directions

Special equipment:
2 (9 by 13-inch) baking pans
  1. One day ahead, make the steak: In a slow cooker, combine the steak, water, tequila, garlic, and 1 serrano chile. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook, on low, until very tender, about 12 hours or overnight. Shred the steak.
  2. Make the enchiladas:
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  4. Combine the tomatillo and tomato sauces in a saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until hot. Stir in 1/4 cup of the cheese.
  5. Heat the black beans in another saucepan.
  6. Combine little of the sauce, a bit of the black beans, a smidgen of the cheese, small morsels of the steak, and hints of the diced canned chiles in each tortilla and roll, keeping the ends untucked. Arrange the rolls in the pans and pour the remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and remaining chiles.
  7. Cover the pans with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Let's Get Cooking!

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boilermakercooker

I would never use flour tortillas for this. New Mexican cooks at Sandia Base Army Hospital prepared Beef Enchiladas almost exactly the same way every week while I was Chief, FS, but always used corn tortillas. Mas Mejor!

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