Beef Enchilada Casserole

jfm0830

Last Sunday I found I was going to  be home alone and I had the entire afternoon free. Time to Eggsperiment. I had picked up the magazine supplement America's Test Kitchen Hometown Favorites and had my eye on this recipe. The ATK version had you cook everything in a 12" skillet & bake it in the oven. I wanted to do everything on the Egg. I really didn't feel like toasting up 20 6" tortillas in a 12" cast iron skillet, plus by baking it on the Egg I could add some smoke. It was cold and windy but that didn't affect the Eggs, only me. I used both Eggs: One set up with the platesetter legs up, the s/s grill grid and BGE half moon cast iron griddle grates at 375 griddle temp. When I was done toasting the tortillas, I removed the griddle grates and switched to the BGE cast iron dutch oven. The other was set up with the AR to do indirect at 450 using the oval pizza stone at Level 3 and the sliding oval grid at Level 4.5. I used a grate probe for my Maverick ET-732 just behind where the casserole dish extended to. 

The ingredients are gathered in the first pix and measured out and chopped up in the second.

The 6" tortillas were brushed with vegetable oil & toasted. Which would you rather do: toast 20 tortillas in a 12" skillet or....Well despite the cold you can see my answer.

8 of the tortillas were cut into smaller pieces and placed in the bowl of a food processor. A can of diced tomatoes and green chilis were added in and the mix was processed until smooth.

The pair of half moon grill griddles are off the Egg & have been replaced by the BGE Dutch Oven. The first step was to brown up 2 pounds of 85/15 ground beef. While this was underway I lit the second Egg which would be stabilized at 450 indirect.

When the ground beef was done it went back inside to the Kitchen and was mixed in a large bowl with the tortilla/tomato mixture. Some shredded Colby Jack was mixed in too.

The ingredients for the next phase are all gate red out at the Egg. The first step was to saute some onions. Next some minced garlic and some chili powders were added and cooked for 30 seconds. Then some tomato sauce was added and the mixture  was brought to a boil and then simmered for 6 minutes while it thickened.

Half of the tomato sauce was added into the bowl with the tortillas/tomatoes/ground beef/cheese. 

At this point doing the enchiladas as a casserole (as opposed to individually) reminded me of assembling lasagna. The first step was to spread 6 of the toasted tortillas across the bottom. Next came the beef/tomato/tortilla/cheese mixture. This was topped with the remaining 6 toasted tortillas. The second half of the tomato sauce that had been cooked in the Dutch oven was added last.

The casserole is on the second Egg for an indirect cook at 450 degrees. I added some JAck Daniels oak wood chips for some smoke flavor. I rotated the dish midway through the 30 minutes. At 30 minutes the casserole was removed from the Egg, topped with Colby Jack cheese and diced jalapenos and then went on for another 20 minutes.

The casserole was loosely covered in foil and rested for 20 minutes & then it was time to eat.

This was an excellent dish with great flavors. The light smoke flavor I added was perfect. Despite this being a very rich and filling dish everyone went back for a second piece and stuffed themselves. This was a good deal of work, but the end results were more than worth the effort. Folks were lining up to take home some leftovers. 

Jim

TexanOfTheNorth

Looks good Jim.

If it's okay with you I might add a dollop of sour cream on mine and maybe a side of guacamole.

jfm0830

TexanOfTheNorth said:

Looks good Jim.

If it's okay with you I might add a dollop of sour cream on mine and maybe a side of guacamole.

Thanks a lot! While I don't like either of those, I did serve them on the side for those who do. So be my guest.

danv23

DAM!

Resauers

That looks good!