Tortilla Casserole Verde

Music to my ears: I just heard Sammy yell “Shuh-sis-ter!” I already knew she could say (in her own way) “sister”–she says it repeatedly, especially since she cannot yet say “Alex”. What really got me though was hearing Alex immediately yell back: “Yes?” So cute! Oh, and, be aware if you name your kid Alex, it will take her forever to pronounce it, and her siblings too.

Anyway. 🙂

Wow I am having a strange week regarding food. Normally when we move, we end up living on take out for a week or so. Well given that I am only moving 5 minutes down the road and given that we will be doing this again in the fall, I was pretty determined to avoid that. So I spent Sunday making both that night’s dinner and then a casserole out of the leftovers (before they were even left over, haha) for us to eat the rest of the week. I also made a bundt cake for my playgroup and cookies. The cookies were a failure (I was operating off of a European recipe that listed the salt and baking powder in grams—the cookies, while amazingly flavored, had no structure whatsoever and all I can guess is I guessed the baking powder amount incorrectly). The bundt cake I will share with you tomorrow….

Anyway, those of you like us who love pot roast probably run into this dilemma. Gee pot roast sounds good, every recipe I see calls for 1-2 lbs of meat but every piece of chuck sold in the grocery store is 3-4 lbs. OK not even we love pot roast that much! Well I decided to make the pot roast and then immediately set aside half of it for a casserole. The roast cooked overnight at 225 F, which is my preferred method in the summer since it means the oven is on in the hot kitchen while we are all asleep. I then set aside the roast and used the liquid to cook potatoes, carrots and extra onions for a traditional dinner of pot roast. However, the other half of the meat I immediately shredded for use in this casserole.

I have trouble finding salsa verde that is not really hot—if you have this problem too, I recommend blending the salsa with tomatillos—either canned or roasted. This is an especially great trick if you have kids who cannot take the heat like I do. The first time I made a casserole using salsa verde John and I loved it but the kids could not eat it.

The meat can truly be almost any shredded meat. In our case, I braised my chuck in about ¾ of a bottle of beer, 1 tablespoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of New Mexico chile powder with sautéed onions and garlic.

Tortilla Casserole Verde

Ingredients

1 T canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet bell pepper, chopped
2 t paprika
1 t cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded cooked beef chuck
1 ½ cup cooked beans
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
3 ½ cups salsa verde
24 corn tortillas
1 ½ cups sour cream

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. (Casserole can also be made ahead).

Heat the canola oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan. Add onions, and cook them until they are translucent, around 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Blend in paprika, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Add beef and beans and heat through. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in cilantro.

In a small bowl, combine the cheeses.

On the bottom of an 9X13 casserole pan (I prefer a deep one) spread 1 cup of the tomatillo sauce. Top with 6 tortillas, overlapping as necessary. Spread half the sour cream evenly over the tortillas. Add 1/2 cup of the remaining tomatillo sauce, 1 1/2 cups of the beef and bean filling, 1 cup cheese mixture, and one half of the green chilies.

Top with 6 more tortillas, the remainder of the sour cream, tomatillo sauce, and beef and bean filling and 1 cup of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers, ending 6 tortillas, 1/2 cup of salsa and 1 cup cheese mixture sprinkled on top. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until hot and bubbly on the surface. (If assembled early and refrigerated, then bake for 35 minutes.)