The New Southwest: Stacked Squash Enchiladas

 

So I wanted to feature a recipe from The New Southwest, the cookbook I told you about last weekend.  There were really too many delicious dishes to choose from so I settled on one vegetarian (today's post) and one non-veg (post on Wed).  If these don't convince you to add this book to your collection, nothing will.

This recipe works well as either a side dish or a main course.  The roasted peppers give a nice weight to the flavor without overpowering it.

Stacked Squash Enchiladas
recipe from book with side notes by yours truly

3 large zucchinis, ends removed, cut into large chunks
2 large yellow longneck squash, ends removed, cut into large chunks
2 Hatch green chiles, stemmed, halved vertically (Anaheim chiles may be substituted)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt for roasting and seasoning to taste
8 green onions, ends removed, halved horizontally
juice of 1 large lemon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
6 7-inch tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the zucchini and yellow squash pieces along with the Hatch chile halves on a large rimmed baking sheet, toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and roast for 60 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

I found that mixing my squash chunks in a bowl first with the oil and salt was easier. Kept pieces from flying about and then I could just pour them out onto the cookie sheet and place the pepper pieces with them.



Place green onion pieces, lemon juice, and cooled squash and chile pieces in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process together to a uniform mixture.

Season with cumin, coriander, and salt to taste, and pulse process just to blend.  Pour mixture into a large bowl.

 

Set up a small assembly line with your bowl of enchilada sauce, tortillas, cheese and a 9-inch nonstick pie plate.  Begin assembly by dipping each side of one tortilla in the sauce, then placing in the bottom of the pie plate.  Note that this sauce is quite thick so don't worry if the sauce doesn't really adhere to the tortilla -- you're just trying to dampen the tortilla.

Instead of dampening the tortillas, I put a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom and then just started the assembly process. I ended up using just 5 tortillas because 6 would have put it well over the edge of my pie dish.

Next spread a generous layer of the sauce on top of the tortilla and top with a sprinkle of cheese. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.  Once your stack is assembled top with any remaining cheese.

 

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and tortillas are slightly crisp at the edges.  You may opt to broil your enchiladas for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, just to crisp up the melted cheese on top.

Remove baked enchiladas from oven, slice, and serve immediately.

YIELD: approximately 4 servings.

NOTES

Don't forget, the best way to prevent inadvertent eye or face burning is to wear gloves when handling the raw peppers.

If you want your enchiladas to have a bit more bite, you can always roast the peppers with the seeds.