Welcome to Seasoned Cooking and to Phil's International Flair!
This has been a very busy month. I am in the process of writing a series of small cookbooks that I hope to offer online in the very near future. The first of these is called Cousin's Cuisine and is being written in collaboration with my cousin, Sandy Badillo. The next book will be called Grilling with Grillmates and will deal with grilling and smoking foods. Both books are progressing nicely and taking shape. In the future, several more cookbooks will be forthcoming. Most of these are currently in the planning stage.
I started the process of incorporation and my new company will be called Phil's Fine Foods, Inc. We intend to use the name Grillmates as a trade name for several of our products, including Grillmates Gourmet Sauce and Grillmates Smoke Baked Salmon and Salmon Supreme. We also plan to offer these products online, and we hope that readers will be able to purchase these products through the Seasoned Cooking web site sometime next year.
Future plans also include a series of DVD cooking shows with printable recipes and video to show how dishes are prepared and presented. In addition, the cookbooks will be offered on CD and printed format, if the demand is high. As you can tell, I'm quite excited about all of this!
This month's recipe is a great main course that can be offered any time of year. It is well suited for the holidays as well. I made this dish last night and the results were extraordinary. Now, on to the recipe!
Beef and Pork Enchiladas
- Beef and Pork, approximately 2 lbs., cubed
- 1 dozen corn tortillas
- 1 lb. Jack cheese, grated
- 1 large can Las Palmas Enchilada sauce
- 1 bunch green onions, diced
- 1 can pitted black olives, sliced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup oil for frying
- 3 tbsp. flour
- cilantro for garnish
Cube the meat and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place into a pressure cooker and add just enough water to cover. Heat over medium high flame until the meat comes to a boil and adjust the pressure cooker for 15 lbs. pressure. Cook for 30 minutes and allow to cool. Shred the meat after removing it from the cooker.
While the meat is cooking, prepare the chili as follows: In a large skillet, melt about 2 tbsp. butter or bacon grease. I used the fat from the meat that was pressure cooked and this worked fine. Add the flour and stir to make a roux. To this roux, add the can of enchilada sauce, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.
Next, heat the oil in a separate skillet. Fry the corn tortillas one at a time in the hot oil until each one begins to slightly crisp. Turn once or twice until the tortilla is no longer soft, but rather firm. After frying a tortilla in the oil, dip it into the chili sauce using a pair of tongs. Saturate both sided of the tortilla with chili and then place into a baking pan for stuffing. I prepare these one at a time until the baking pan is full.
Once you have a chili soaked tortilla in the baking pan, place about 2 tablespoons of the shredded meat in the tortilla, sprinkle a few diced green onions, sliced olives and about 2 tablespoons of grated jack cheese on top of the meat. Roll or fold all of these ingredients together in the tortilla and arrange the enchiladas side by side in the baking pan. Once the pan is filled with enchiladas, spoon some or all of the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas, sprinkle grated jack cheese over all of the enchiladas, and then top with the remaining green onions and olives.
Bake the enchiladas in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro and serve immediately with refried beans and Spanish rice.
Enjoy!
- Yields: 6 servings
- Preparation Time: 1 hour