Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde W/ Bell Pepper Enchiladas

 
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This week it’s two recipes for the price of one! Or is it one recipe divided in two? Whatever way you look at it this is a delicious and hearty option for making the most of your tomatillos and bell peppers.

I’ll start with the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde and then move on to a quick Enchilada Recipe that works really well cooked with the salsa verde as a topping.

Salsa Verde Ingredients

  • 1 lb tomatillos, husks removed and fruits washed

  • 2 jalapeño peppers or other spicy peppers of your choice. If you don’t like your food spicy, you could try replacing this with half a small green bell pepper.

  • 2 unpeeled garlic cloves

  • 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock

  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped

  • 1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and tender stems

  • 1 tablespoon lime juice, or more to taste

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 450 F and place the tomatillos, peppers and garlic in a small baking tray on the middle oven shelf

  2. Cook the vegetables for 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re starting to blacken and blister. Remove them from the oven and transfer them to a plate to cool for 10 minutes.

  3. In the meantime, pour the stock into the baking tray and use a wooden spoon to scrape any of the burnt bits off the bottom to add extra flavor to the stock.

  4. Once the peppers have cooled enough to handle, peel the skin and, if you don’t like things too spicy, remove all the seeds. Now peel the garlic.

  5. Throw all the tomatillos, peppers, garlic, raw onion and cilantro into the blender with the lime juice, salt and half the stock. Blend it on a low speed for 10 to 15 seconds, then test the consistency and flavor. If you like it looser you can add the rest of the stock (I would recommend this if you are going to use the salsa verde with the enchiladas) and you can adjust the salt and lime juice to taste. Give it another quick blend to mix in any adjustments you just added.

In addition to serving it over enchiladas, this salsa can also be eaten with burritos, tacos, nachos and is great with cooked chicken and beef.

Bell Pepper Enchilada Ingredients

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  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 green & 1 red bell pepper (or any combination of colors you like really) deseeded and thinly sliced

  • 1 jalapeño, deseeded and minced (exclude this if you’re not a fan of chilies)

  • 2 portabella mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

  • 1 teaspoon cumin

  • 1 teaspoon chili powder (Replace this with paprika if you don’t like it hot)

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (reserve half for topping). I used Follow your Heart vegan shredded cheese in lieu of this and it worked great (a mix of ‘cheddar’ and ‘mozzarella)

  • 1 cup sour cream (I used Follow you Heart vegan sour cream instead)

  • 14 corn tortillas

Method

  1. preheat oven to 400° F while in a large skillet you heat the oil for the enchiladas over a medium flame. Sauté the jalapeño and bell peppers until they begin to soften, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for another couple minutes, until they darken in color.

  2. Stir in the cumin, chili powder (or paprika) and salt, then transfer to a large bowl. Mix in half the shredded cheese and the cup of sour cream.

  3. Pour a small amount of the tomatillo salsa verde from the previous recipe into the bottom of the baking dish. Just enough to give it a very thin covering all over.

  4. Warm the tortillas and one-by-one roll the bell pepper mixture inside. Place into the baking dish in rows with the seam side down. If the tortillas are cracking or tearing then they probably aren’t warm enough.

  5. Completely cover the top of the enchiladas with the sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Now bake until golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes.

I served this with a bit of green salad, some refried beans and guacamole.

Note that this enchilada recipe would work just as well with a more typical red enchilada sauce with a tomato base that you can buy from any supermarket ready-made. Personally I wanted to save some of my salsa verde for other meals, so I split my enchiladas into two smaller baking dishes and did one with green sauce and the other with red.

 
Andrew Williamson