Enfrijoladas (Tortilla, Bean, and Cheese Casserole)

This is a recipe I saw on Mexican Made Easy on the Food Network. I've never made anything like it before. It's kind of like cheese quesadillas that are dipped in a homemade bean sauce and then baked in the oven. It's all kinds of good!

Enfrijoladas

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

¾ cup chopped onion

1 medium chipotle chile, seeded and minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp dried oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups chicken broth

8 flour tortillas (taco size)

2 cups shredded Manchego or Monterrey Jack cheese

Sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, chile, and garlic. Saute until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Rub the oregano, between palms of your hands and sprinkle over the beans. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Add the beans and broth to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool the beans for about 5 minutes before putting them in the blender. Carefully, pour the mixture into a blender and puree. Return the pureed mixture to the pan and gently reheat over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.

Using tongs, pass the tortillas one by one through the refried bean sauce until they are somewhat softened and coated on both sides with the sauce. Place in a 9x13” baking dish. Fill each tortilla with ¼ cup of shredded cheese. Fold in half and arrange them, overlapping, in the dish. Top with the rest of the bean sauce, just to cover the beans but allow the edges of the folded tortillas to show. Bake 10 minutes, top with additional cheese, and bake another 5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

This was a nice change from the usual Mexican dishes I have done before. The bean sauce is really easy to put together and is way more flavorful than using canned refried beans. Just make sure that the beans have cooled a bit before blending or you will have a mess on your hands.

The original recipe called for placing the tortillas on a plate after dipping in the bean sauce, then filling with cheese, and then placing in the baking dish. That seemed like an unnecessary step and my tortillas were kind of fragile after dipping in the beans, so I just filled them in the baking dish, then folded them over. It was really easy that way.

The lettuce and tomatoes weren't part of the original recipe, but Jim thought they needed some additional texture, something crunchy. He actually crunched up some tortilla chips to put on top of his. I actually liked it the way it was. I served it with Sweet Corn Tomalito. The combination of spicy and slightly sweet is always good.

The way it's written above, it is just a tiny bit spicy. If you like things really spicy, increase the number of chipotles you put in the bean sauce.

I will definitely be making this again. We love Mexican and I will be adding this to my ever-growing list of favorite Mexican dishes.

Kate at Kitchen Trial and Error chose this recipe when she was assigned my blog for the Secret Recipe Club in November 2013.  Click on the button below to check out her post.