So I must say, this recipe initially started out way too spicy for my tastes! I knew the kids wouldn't eat it either because of how spicy it was. If spice is your thing and you aren't feeding 1, 2, and 4 year olds, GO FOR IT! I had to scale back. Initially I wanted to use Hatch Chili Salsa from Costco, it's so good, but in small doses. Turns out, Salsa Verde, the mild form, allows this dish to be family-friendly, quick to assemble and versatile. I've mentioned before but I am a huge fan of using what I've got. In this case, I had a surplus of taco meat. Lucky me!!
This can be made with ground turkey, you can use greek yogurt instead of sour cream to top it and the type of cheese you use is also fair game. Although I would recommend you stay within the mexican-type cheeses (we used chihuahua cheese) or at least colby-jack cheese. Additionally, go easy on yourself and purchase salsa verde pre-made.
The dish is a little crunchy, very savory, smooth from the sour cream or greek yogurt and can feed a lot of people for a few nights.
I had browned ground beef with the addition of ChiChi's taco seasoning added to it. It's a family favorite and my mom buys it by the case-load. Not joking. You can use whatever you have though. Shredded chicken would also be a fantastic option for this. Probably more of a "classic" manner to prepare dishes with Salsa Verde, but we really enjoyed the ground beef.
First I chopped up a bunch of peppers. I added a jalepeno in there as well but again, if you're not going for spice, I would avoid this. I also used half a red onion. Lastly, I threw in some garlic for good measure.
Since my beef was browned already, and if you don't have any available, please get to browning it. Cook on medium heat until all of the pink is gone. Drain the oil. Add your taco seasoning and water and cook until the water is evaporated.
I also got to sauteeing my peppers. I used 1 tsp of olive oil, added my peppers, garlic and onions to a pan and cooked until the colors became vibrant and they began to soften a little bit. Additionally, I added a few seasonings for good measure.
Next was to begin layering. I used Mission Street Tacos for this. Mostly because it's what I had but also when I make tacos, the kids love the Mission Street Tacos for their little hands. They're adorable.
I sprayed a 9x13 dish, and laid down a thin layer of street tacos. I sprayed these with some olive oil as well after I put them down so they wouldn't be "dry." Next I added 1 cup of salsa, half the ground beef mixture, , my pepper/onion/garlic mix and 1/2 cup of cheese.
Next steps are to lay another thin layer of street tacos, spray with oil, add 1 cup of salsa, rest of the ground beef, rest of the pepper mix and another 1/2 cup of cheese.
For the final steps, do one more layer of tortillas, spray again with oil, add 1 more cup of salsa and 1 cup of cheese this time to ensure all the tortillas are covered well.
Cook for 30 minutes at 375° until all the cheese is melted and is beginning to bubble and brown. Let cool and serve with shredded lettuce, greek yogurt or sour cream, chopped tomatoes or whatever enchilada toppings you enjoy!
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