Wheat Flour Tortilla Enchilada Casserole

This recipe was born of necessity. We had a gathering of friends one day at our house and a great deal of wheat flour tortillas meant to be burro wraps went unused. They were opened and I don't like dry tortillas, so what to do? Now there are a lot of recipes for using corn tortillas but I could find nothing for my wheat flour tortillas. That is when I came up with the idea of making the casserole. It was a great success and when it is baked, it puffs up like a souffle. Serve it with lots of your favorite green salad. It makes a great main dish, it is wonderful for potluck dinners, and it is a dish just made to take on a outing or a picnic.

Ingredients

1 pkg Sour cream, 8 ounce size, thinned with milk. May use low fat or no fat
1 tsp Cumin powder, or more if you like it.
2 tsp Chili powder, optional, if chorizo is hot, you may cut this back some.
1 Tbsp Chopped fresh garlic, or add the amount you like
½ bunch Cilantro, chopped fresh if possible; if not use 1 to 2 teaspoons dried
½ cup Milk, to thin the sour cream before using, may be canned or skim
1 pkg Medium wheat flour tortillas (1 dozen)
1 lb Chorizo sausage. May use any sausage that you like including a mix.
½ lb Good Mexican melting cheese, shredded
½ lb Extra sharp cheddar or Emmenthaler or Swiss, shredded
3 bunch Green onions, cleaned, and chopped
6 ea Roasted green chilies, peeled and cut into strips (you may use canned, but flavor is not as good)


Directions

The sauce:
Mix the sour cream, cumin powder, chili powder, garlic and cilantro together in a bowl. Add the milk and stir to mix. It should be the consistency of good cream. Add a little more milk if needed, stir well and set aside for later.

Cook the chorizo or sausage in a fry pan until no more pink meat is seen and drain any fat off of the meat. Discard the fat and set the meat aside for later.

Putting the dish together:
Light the oven and heat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 by 12 inch pan and put two or three heaping tablespoons (about one-fourth) of the sauce in the bottom of the pan and spread to cover the whole bottom. The rest of the sauce will be used 1/3 of it at a time with the last being used on the top just before the casserole goes into the oven.

Figure that you will make three different sauce coatings with the sauce that is left in your bowl. Tear the wheat flour tortillas into chunks and fit a single layer into the pan. Leave no gaps, but don't double up too much. Use two to three of the tortillas.

Add 1/3 of the cooked sausage, spreading it around over the whole top of the dish.

Add 1/3 of the green chili strips, add 1/3 of the green onions in the same manner, add 1/3 of the sauce and add 1/3 of the cheese.

Add the next layer of tortilla chunks leaving no gaps and then using your hands, gently push down on everything to compress the mass in the pan.

Add the next 1/3 of the ingredients as above until you have built three layers. Don't forget to compress the mass each time before you build the next layer.

On top of the third layer I like to put the green onions last as this helps keep the aluminum foil off of the cheese on the top of the casserole while it is baking.

Cover the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil and fold the edges around the pan. Bake for one hour.

Uncover and bake uncovered for another ½ hour or until the top is browned and the casserole is heated through.

The casserole will puff up like a souffle when it bakes and will fall when it is removed from the oven. This is all right and is normal. Let the casserole set for about ten minutes before serving.

This dish is very similar to an enchilada casserole dish and if your folks like enchiladas, they will love this one. Of course, I expect you to experiment and add your own twist to this dish, so let me know what you come up with and I will put the better ones on line and give you credit next to your version.

Enjoy!!

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