In late October 2003, I played (along with Jim Earp) at Emanuel Lutheran Church in La Habra, CA. Afterwards, we gathered for a huge Enchilada Feed at the home of Pastor and Mrs. Jeffray Greene. Carl Nelman, who has been kind enough to show up at many of my local concerts over the years and was pretty much the moving force behind this concert, did the enchilada cooking and assembly. When I asked him about the recipe, he told me it originated with "my mom's cousin Madelon Sewell".  And so we raise a flask of that new chipotle flavored Tabasco sauce and pass the recipe along to Netizens everywhere!

 World Famous Enchiladas

 Ingredients for 2 Dozen:

2 dozen corn tortillas

3 lbs hamburger

2 large jars of salsa of your choice

3 large cans of HUNTS Tomato Sauce   (no other brand will do)

2 lbs Cheese..... sharp cheddar or Tillamook is the best

3 large brown onions

 

Optional ingredients

1 lb choriza sausage

sour cream

hot peppers of your choosing

diced olives

various spices


Jim & Cathy Earp, Bob Bennett

Prep:

  1. Dice the onions and set aside.
  2. Grate the cheese and set aside.
  3. Cover the oven rack with at least two layers of aluminum foil (avoid punctures and drips).

Meat Mixture Prep:

  1. Brown the hamburger (and optional choriza).  Drain off all grease and fat.
  2. Stir in salsa and tomato sauce.
  3. If desired, toss in a large handful of diced onions.
  4. As desired, spice with your choice of chili powder, pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce, chili’s, or whatever spices you’d like, to whatever “temperature” you’d like.
  5. Simmer.  Let the meat mixture get somewhat dry, otherwise tortilla rolling will be a mess.

Tortilla Prep:

  1. Heat up some cooking oil in a small frying pan.
  2. Dip tortillas, one at a time, in the hot oil.  Just long enough to heat and soften, not crisp.
  3. Drain each tortilla.


FROM L to R:
Sandra & Carl Nelman, Jim & Cathy Earp, Mark Rosenau, Bob "How Many Enchiladas?" Bennett, Lorene and Pastor Jeffray Greene

Prepare The Enchiladas:

  1. Turn on oven to 350 degrees.
  2. On a tortilla place some meat mixture, roll up the tortilla, place on aluminum foil-covered oven rack.
    1. Prepare all tortillas as such.
  3. Cover all rolled tortillas with Hunt’s tomato sauce.
  4. Sprinkle grated cheese over the rolled tortillas.
  5. Sprinkle diced onions over the rolled tortillas.
  6. Place oven rack into the oven.
  7. Enchiladas are ready to serve when the cheese is melted.

Serving:

  1. top with sour cream if desired.
  2. top with diced olives if desired.
  3. top with hot sauces if desired.