Enchilada Lasagna

The first recipe I want to review is Enchilada Lasagna by Alton Brown. This is one of my favorite new recipes. I'm sure Cathy is already sick and tired of it as I have made it three or four times in the past month. Enchilada Lasagna is a very versatile recipe. It's good as it is written but with a few minor changes it can become just about whatever you need.  A link to the recipe can be found here.

As it is written, the dish has some heat yet is fairly simple. One change that I consistently made to the dish was to use chipotles in adobo sauce instead of the dried chipotle chiles. I find the addition of the adobo sauce  adds  a much-needed smokiness to the dish. Another change that I can recommend to anyone using the recipe is to increase the filling by at least one and a half times, if not two times, what is called for in the recipe. One thing I would not change in the recipe is making the homemade sauce. It really makes this dish. You can change the heat of the dish by substituting paprika for some or all the chili powder. Some of the other changes that I have made are using one or two more corn tortillas per layer, adding canned black beans or corn to the filling, or substituting whole wheat lasagna noodles for the corn tortillas.

The first time I made this dish I used a 13 x 9 Pyrex dish as the recipe calls for. Every other time I have used a half sized aluminum disposable steam table pan. While in my opinion, the recipe needs more filling than what is called for, your standard 13 x 9 Pyrex dish will not hold everything if you double the filling. A roasting pan would probably work just as well.

The recipe can, for lack of a better term, be rather soupy straight out of the oven. The dish needs to rest once out of the oven for at least 10 minutes if not more. Another reason for this might be because there was too much sauce. You'll have to experiment and find out for yourself how much sauce you need for your version of the dish. When I made the recipe using whole wheat lasagna noodles instead of the corn tortillas, I pre-soaked the noodles and used the sauce as the recipe called for and found the dish to be a little too soupy. Next time I will either not pre-soak the noodles or I will use less sauce.

All in all this is a very good and versatile dish. It can be made as hot, or as mild as is needed. You can use corn tortillas or lasagna noodles, extra stuffing, or change the stuffing with corn, beans, peppers, or your heart’s desire. Although I haven't tried it yet, I'm sure that you could use ground turkey or beef just as well. If you do use chicken, I highly recommend using thighs. The dark meat really adds a lot of flavor to this dish.

Hello

Welcome to my first blog. For those of you who know me, I am not often taken with fits of wordiness, except when I talk about food. I have shared a few of my thoughts concerning food on Facebook. However, Facebook does not always allow me to fully communicate what I want to say. I'm not sure that I really have all that much more to say, but I am hoping to put this to good use. I would like to share with you recipes that I find interesting. Most of the recipes that I use are from other sources, such as a website, cookbook, or family recipe. I will attempt to cite the source of the recipe being discussed, providing a link whenever possible. From time to time, I will also give my thoughts and reviews on beer and restaurants, as well as bring your attention to good deals from stores in my local area.