New Mexican Hot Dish

Well, I just came from a grocery store that looks like it was strip mined, so I will eat anything at this point. The comments about processed cheese deserve a response. It’s poor people’s food. It appeared in the “relief” food boxes when I was a kid in West Virginia. Now I live in California, and I know plenty of Mexicans who cook with it. It can survive without refrigeration, and it melts nicely. Don’t knock it. It’s the staff of life for some folks.

I used a red onion that was sprouting shoots off the end, a red pepper whose skin was wrinkly, an Amy's veggie burger that was in my freezer since last summer, some sad spinach, a jalapeno, cumin, and oregano. Layered this sauteed mix with corn tortillas, canned enchilada sauce, and some chalky pre-shredded "Mexican-style" cheese. Baked at 425 for 20 minutes. It was a dinner fit for a queen.

To make it more New Mexican which I like, I would use can of Hatch Enchilada sauce either green or red instead of can tomatoes.

Place the tortillas on a cookie sheet as your oven heats up - spray some oil on if you want - then they'll soften up and be ready for the casserole. Oh, and skip the beef and use beans - refried or whole. Black, pinto whatever! Got chile, red peppers, corn or zucchini on hand - add it.

Use hatch green chilie instead that's what we use in new mexico

I'm going to cook this for my wife and hope she thinks I'm a hot dish.

Horrors! Gee, I have made this dish years ago but used corn tortilla chips in place of the fresh tortillas. Heck, yes and I now use pre-shredded Cheddar that I get at my local supermarket! Ain't got time for all of that tomfoolery.

Put a fried egg on top for New Mexico authenticity.

Olive oil, 1 lb grnd beef, 2 sm ons, 2 jala, 4 sm clv garlic, 2 TB flour, generous pinch salt, 1 ts chili powder, 1 ts oregano, 1/2 ts cumin, 2 med tomatoes, 1/3 cup water, corn tortillas, cheddar and American cheese. Cook timely & water will pull up flour that sticks to pan when cooking beef. Served with salsa and sour cream, also be good with cilantro, lime & avocado. Small square casserole. Could be a bit more spicy but slightly warm is probably good. Try Colby, Mont jack in future.

Even a slice of American cheese added to other cheese will improve the meltiness w/out really affecting the flavor. It's because they put sodium citrate in American. Samin Nosrat did a whole thing about this on Home Cooking. You can also do what she does and buy sodium citrate and just add a pinch to whatever elegant cheese you choose and it'll melt like a dream - no separation or clumping. That's what Samin says.

Used a can of the Rotel tomatoes and chilis in lieu of adding tomatoes and jalapenos. Drained (most of) the water, added with the chopped onion. Easy and tasty and perfect for a busy weeknight.

New Mexican cooks do use ground beef, both in their green and red chile sauces and in their enchiladas. I’ve lived in either southern or northern NM my while life, and while home cooks make variations, the cheese is normally yellow. The tortillas are always corn. They don’t use anything besides Monterrey jack, Colby, or mild cheddar. However, like any home cooking, individual cooks make variations!

Used shredded rotisserie chicken, a jar of "535 Roasted Green Chiles", a can of "Hatch Green Enchilada Sauce" sauteed white onions, queso fresco cheese and larger flour tortillas. I layered the mixture with the tortillas in an enamel cast iron dutch oven and added crumbled cheese to the penultimate and final layer. Since the mixture was already hot, I cooked in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese because I didn't want soggy tortillas. So tasty and so easy to make!

My mom made this years and years ago and she called it Mexican casserole. She used Fritos corn chips, Old El Paso Chile con carne, Velveeta cheese and pinto beans. Sour cream was baked on the top and her fancy schmancy touch was to sprinkle sliced green olives over the finished dish. She was from north east Texas and this recipe came from her people. It made for many happy dinners.

I have been cooking a similar dish for twenty years or more. I like to use different ingredients in all but the top and bottom layer for example: black beans, chopped green chiles, spinach or sour cream.