Whole Foods Recipe: Mashed Potato and Roasted Veggie Enchies

Back in the early days of whole foods I found this recipe for mashed potato and roasted vegetable enchiladas. I was really strapped for recipe ideas so I just thought, "Well, this should be interesting." And then I made my sister start chopping because she was visiting and what are sisters good for if not manual labor?

I consoled myself with the idea that if they were awful then at least only Aaron, my sister and I would know of my culinary failing. But then my parents invited us over for dinner because they like my sister and wanted to see her and I told them we had enchiladas underway and they were like, "Great! Bring 'em!" And suddenly there would be three more people (including my bro) eating my very sketchy sounding enchiladas. I was worried.

But then? These were delicious. It's pretty much straight vegetable from start to finish and we all LIKED them. It was a miracle. And now we have them as frequently as I can manage.

The dark side of these enchiladas is that, if you make them from scratch as I'm about to post below, they take every bit of three hours. I know, I'm so sorry.

BUT! The nice thing is that you don't have to make your own enchilada sauce or tortillas. You can go the store-bought route and I will not judge you at all and then these will take you like no time at all. I frequently double the recipe and freeze the extra all ready to pop into the oven. Or I've also been known to just freeze the filling in a baggie and work from there. Anything to cut down on the time investment because these really are quite good and I like to have them as often as possible.

Mashed Potato and Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
Filling recipe adapted from here

Filling:

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

3 small zucchini, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups chopped carrots

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup butter

3 russet potatoes, baked

I suggest you start by making your tortillas and then move on to the filling. Make the sauce while the veggies are roasting.

In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, zucchini, bell pepper and carrots. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread vegetables in a single layer in a shallow baking dish. Roast vegetables in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes; stir halfway through their cooking time. When finished cooking, remove from the oven, and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Mash baked potatoes with butter (and milk, as needed to get a good consistency). Mix in roasted vegetables. 

Sauce:
Recipe adapted from here. It ends up never being quite enough so I usually end up kind of very unscientifically increasing it a bit.

1 1/2 lbs tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed well

1 serrano chile pepper, tops cut off

3 cloves garlic

1/3 cup onion, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and chopped

Put the tomatillos and serrano chile pepper in a sauce pan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the tomatillos are cooked, and have changed color, but are not mushy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. 

Use a slotted spoon to transfer tomatillos and serranos to a blender. Add 1/2 cup of the tomatillo cooking liquid to the blender, as well as 2 cloves of garlic, chopped onion, and about 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (packed). Add one teaspoon of salt. Purée until completely blended, 15 to 30 seconds. Add more salt to taste if necessary. Pour sauce into a skillet, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat.

Assembly and cooking:

Standard enchilada assembly. Put a little sauce in the bottom of your baking dish for non-sticking purposes. Warm tortillas (I usually stick them in the microwave for a few seconds), dip them in sauce, spread on some filling, roll, place in glass baking dish (this makes enough for a full 9x13 but I like to divide mine up and freeze the extra). Pour extra sauce over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45ish minutes. Uncover, top with a bunch of monterey jack cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes or however long it takes your cheese to get good and melty.