Sunday marked my third cooking class at Luci’s Healthy Marketplace. The theme of this class was cheese. In addition to teaching everyone the basics of a proper cheese plate for entertaining (post on that to come sometime soon) we also cooked with cheese. Enter, three cheese enchiladas.
When I think of cheese, my brain goes to enchiladas. Ooey, gooey, stringy, melty cheese. In that inspiration, I developed this recipe for super simple three cheese enchiladas with leeks, peppers and mushrooms, doused with a bright green tomatillo sauce. This dish has it all. Sweet and tangy sauce, creamy divine cheese, soft tortillas and crunchy veggies. This is a little different from casserole-style enchiladas. All you have to do with these is fill, roll and cover in sauce. The heat from the filling and the sauce will melt your cheese.
One important note about the shredded cheese in this recipe. Be sure to grate your own gruyere and swiss. Pre-grated comes dusted with potato starch and other things to keep it from clumping. This can also affect its flavor and ability to melt. Take the extra few minutes to get a block of cheese and use your grater.
(Full printable recipe at the bottom of this post).
Three Cheese Enchiladas – step by step
Start by preparing your sauce. First, char your scallions, tomatillos, 2 ears of corn and 1 poblano pepper. You can use a blow torch, running the flame over the surface as it chars the veggies. Or, you can turn on the broiler in your oven and place the veggies directly under it until they char.
From there, rough chop all of your charred veggies and add them to a blender with 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbs oil, a green apple, garlic and the can of diced green chiles. Let that blend until smooth, then place it all in a pot or pan over medium heat to simmer until ready to serve. If it starts to boil, turn down the heat to low.
Next, shred your gruyere and swiss cheese, toss to combine and set aside.
Next, create your filling. Sauté 1 chopped leek in 1 Tbs. oil in a medium high heated pan. Once the leeks start to get fragrant, add in the poblano pepper and continue to sauté until the peppers are soft. Then, add in your mushrooms and stir until mushrooms are soft. Add in the cream cheese along with salt and pepper to taste and stir until the cheese is melted and you have a creamy sauce.
Prepare your tortillas by heating in a clean hot pan for a 20 to 30 seconds per side. This will make your tortillas stronger so they don’t crumble when you try to roll the filling.
Finally, time to assemble and serve. Take one tortilla, fill with a generous few pinches of cheese, top with filling and roll up, then placing it on the plate it will be served on. Add one to two more rolled cheese enchiladas to the plate and then cover with simmering sauce. The heat from the filling and the heat from the sauce will melt the shredded cheese. Garnish with cilantro and/or fresh tomatoes and serve.
*Original recipe by Joanie Simon (joaniesimon.com)
[tasty-recipe id=”6682″]
