The Famous: Enchiladas With Green Sauce

The dish I am most well known for among my foodie friends is enchiladas with green sauce: tortillas wrapped around caramelized onions, shredded Monterrey jack and Cheddar and sweet potatoes, drenched in a spinach cream sauce and baked to sizzling perfection.  I have been making this dish since 1999, when my friend Cora’s mother Elaine (who grew up in Houston) taught me some of her TexMex specialties.  This dish was one of those, in some less evolved form.  Now I make it for special occasions, like Claire having a baby.  This is somewhat of a process, but the results are worth it.

6 onions, sliced into thin rounds or half rounds
1/3 cup olive oil
salt (preferably kosher–to taste)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped and cooked (boiled or baked)
flour tortillas (15-20)
1 block Monteray Jack cheese, shredded
1 block Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup butter
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
24 oz of sour cream (2 containers)
chili powder (1 tablespoon or to taste)
cumin (1 tablespoon or to taste)
15 oz baby spinach (1 1/2 big bags)

onions, before and after caramelization

Step 1, caramelizing the onions:  Onions caramelize at different speed and with differing ease depending on their sugar content. I use regular yellow onions for this recipe, and sometimes I will mix in some red, any combination is fine.  Start by dividing the olive oil between two skillets and heating the skillets to a medium-high temperature. When the oil begins to ripple add the onions and stir them until they are coated in oil.  Add salt (liberally if you are of my temperament).  Continue to stir the onions every few minutes and make sure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.  They will get darker in color and they will shrink down in size.  Be patient, a good caramelized onion takes a long time.  If done right, caramelized onions are the key to many people’s hearts.

Step 2, making the sauce:  Get ready for cholesterol. Melt 1/2 cup butter and saute garlic in a medium-large pot.  Add in sour cream and stir until it melts down and is a thick liquid resembling egg nog.  Add in salt and chili powder, stir.  Add in all the the spinach, stir well and cover.  Take off cover every few minutes to stir.  When the spinach is cooked (10 minutes) turn off the heat and let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When the mixture has cooled off a bit, begin poring a few cups at a time into your cusinart/food processor/blender and blending.  Repeat until all the mixture has been blended.

Step 2, filling the tortillas, spreading the sauce: In each tortilla place 2-3 spoon fulls of caramelized onion, sweet potato and 1/3 cup of mixed shredded jack and cheddar cheese.  Roll then and place them seam side down in a casserole dish (See photo).

When all the tortillas have been filled drench them with the spinach cream sauce, sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and bake at 375 for 45 minutes, until the cheese on top is brown and crispy.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I sadly didn’t remember to take photos of the final product, but I am hoping that some folks can give testimony that it is well worth the effort.