Red Enchilada Sauce

Hola!  Last night it was enchiladas on the menu. They were muy delicioso!  I love enchiladas because they are so easy, and so good. It is one of those dishes where it is easy to accomodate the carnivore and me.

I'm not going bore you with the logistics of my enchiladas. I think we all have our favorites.  For the huz I put rotisserie chicken, cheddar cheese, and black beans. For mine I put tofu, cheddar cheese, and black beans.

I will tell you that these have to be the best enchiladas I have made in a long time. I think every time I make them I do a different filling. For my tofu, I actually sliced up a brick, and roasted it in a 350 oven for approximately 40 minutes. I didn't freeze it, thaw it, squeeze it, like some recipes I have seen. Nope. I kept it simple.  I put them in the oven on my Silpat. If you do not know what a Silpat is - you really need one. The Silpat could be it's own blog topic. This tofu was my "chicken" and it worked out perfectly.

Look at those tofu soldiers!

The key to any good enchilada is really the sauce, because really without the sauce, you'd just have a 9 x 13 pan of soft tacos. I have had this enchilada sauce recipe for 10 years. I never buy enchilada sauce because of it. The ingredients are staples that I always have in my pantry. The beauty is that while it simmers I am able to roll my enchiladas, and then cover them with this fantastic red sauce when it's done. It's a win-win.

The other bonus is that while my enchiladas were busy cooking away in the oven, I put together a lovely assortment of vegetables to steam.  The perfect side dish.


Admit it - you know you want some


All that was missing were margaritas....and chips....and deep fried ice cream.  Really nothing was missing, because these were AWESOME!

Red Enchilada Sauce
Makes 3 cups (8 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the onion, oregano, chili powder, basil, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, parsley, salsa and tomato sauce.
2. Mix together and then stir in the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

The veggie enchiladas have beans on top - sneaky, huh?