GF Red Enchiladas

I decided to take some pictures and post the recipe for this about halfway through the process. For this reason, I don’t have any pictures of the sauce being made. However, it’s quite simple, so hopefully it won’t matter. And since I’ll likely be making these again very soon, I’ll update this post with pictures of the sauce.

Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef (grass-fed)
1 Tbs butter or ghee
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp onion granules (or 1/4 med onion, diced small)
1/4 cup red chile powder (I used this and this)
1 Tbs arrowroot powder¹
2-4 cups water + 2 Tbs

Melt butter in stock pan. Add ground beef and spices (not chile) and cook till done and crumbly. (If you are using grass-fed beef, the amount of grease in the pan shouldn’t be excessive) Add red chile powder and mix well. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes. In small bowl, mix arrowroot powder with 2 Tbs of water well. Add 2 cups of water to meat mixture. It should just cover the meat. If not, add more until covered. Add arrowroot water and mix well. Turn very low and cover. Let simmer on low for 20-30 minutes, then make crepes.

Enchiladas

Red sauce (above)
8-9 eggs (pastured, if possible)
1/4 tsp of butter or ghee
1 tsp cumin (optional)
1 tsp garlic salt or granules (optional)
3 cups cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

In small frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. (I set my electric burner between 4 and 5; the highest setting is 9) While pan heats, beat eggs with cumin and garlic salt/granules till whites and yolks are fully mixed. Pour an amount of egg mixture equal to 1/2 an egg into pan, immediately swirling around pan to cover all the bottom. It should be very thin. (If it doesn’t cover, you can take a spoon and fill in the empty spots with egg mix) Cook until top begins to look dry, about 1 minute. Flip and cook for 30 seconds.

See how the nearest edge looks dry and is sort of sticking up? I like to grab that part and flip it. Be careful if it doesn’t flip well. Let it cook a few seconds before trying to straighten it, otherwise it will tear.
Remove to 9×13″ baking pan. Pour more egg mix into pan. While crepe is cooking, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of cheese onto center of cooked crepe. With slotted spoon, remove about 3 tablespoons of meat from sauce (does not need to be completely dry) and place on top of cheese. Fold ends of crepe up and overlap them on top. Turn seem side down and place at narrow end of pan.

Though it’s not shown here, the one open end of the crepe should be touching the long side of the pan and 2 crepes should be placed longways to fill in the side (see picture below of second row).

You may have to stop mid-way through rolling to flip the crepe that’s cooking. Remove from pan and repeat process. Once you have completed one row, sprinkle a small amount (about 1/4 cup) of cheese over the top and drizzle over all with red sauce.
Preheat oven to 350^o and while oven heats, repeat process for second row. It should look like this:

At this point, you should have about 2 cups of sauce left. Pour this all over the top of the crepes, then cover with remaining 3/4 cup of cheese (or desired amount). It should look like this:

and this:

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Garnish plate with chopped salad greens and diced tomato (I was out). Top with fresh yogurt or sour cream, if desired. I’m usually pretty modest about my cooking, but to me this was every bit as good as enchiladas made with corn tortillas. The consistency and look was nearly identical.

Note: I have an alternate post for gf green enchiladas here, where I make all the crepes prior to putting the enchilada together. If you make the crepes first, then assemble the enchilada, be sure not to stack them right on top of each other. Stack them off-center on a plate or piece of parchment paper.

¹For those who prefer not to use arrowroot powder or any type of thickener, you can cook 1/2 an onion, diced, in some butter in a separate pan till soft, then combine with about a cup of the finished sauce (try to get sauce only, no meat) and blend in blender (or use an immersion blender). This will create a thicker sauce. Add back to pan of meat sauce.

This recipe is very forgiving. You can adjust according to your tastes. Any questions? Ask me in the comment section and I’ll reply as soon as possible.

This post is part of the following blog carnivals:

Real Food Wednesdays hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Hearth and Soul hosted by A Moderate Life
Traditional Tuesdays hosted by Cooking Traditional Foods.
Monday Mania hosted by The Healthy Home Economist.

Check them out for real food ideas!

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