As promised some recipes that use the salsa verde I posted about yesterday. These crispy green enchiladas are based on Baby Lady’s recipe, with beef instead of chicken. It was one of the best new dishes I’ve tried lately. The combination of the bright spicy green salsa with the sour cream, the beef, and the texture of the toasted tortillas was just wonderful. If you read Richard’s post about them, you can see that Sweetieman and Baby Lady did not agree whether these are called taquitos or enchiladas. I just know that they were delicious and that I have already made them again.

Ingredients

Makes 6 enchiladas, serves 2

300 grams (.66 lb) beef, such as skirt steak, flank steak, or chuck roast (or roasted chicken, as used by Baby Lady)

about 1/2 of a recipe of salsa verde

6 small (15 cm/6 inch) tortillas (Baby Lady uses corn, I used wheat)

125 ml (1/2 cup) Mexican crema (or sour cream mixed with a bit of milk)

queso fresco, for garnish (fresh Mexican cheese; I used a local cheese as Mexican cheese is not available here)

fresh cilantro, for garnish

salt

1 large ripe tomato

oil for frying

Instructions

Season the beef with salt on all sides. Heat oil in a frying pan, add the beef…

…and brown it on all sides.

Vacuum seal the beef once it has cooled…

…and cook it sous-vide for 24 hours at 74C/165F. Alternatively, you could cover the beef with water and braise it on the stovetop or in the oven until it is fork tender.

Once the beef has been cooked sous-vide, put the juices from the bag in a blender together with the tomato.

Blend until smooth and transfer that mixture to a saucepan. Bring it to a boil…

…and simmer until it has been reduced by about half.

In the meantime, use two forks to shred (pull) the beef.

Turn off the heat, and add the beef to the tomato sauce.

Stir to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F, fan forced.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Cook the tortillas for about 20 seconds per side to soften them. Make sure not to crisp them at this point.

Allow the tortillas to drain on paper towels, and pat with paper towels to get rid of any excess oil.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or oven paper. Arrange the tortillas on the baking sheet and place 1/6 of the meat filling on each tortilla. Then roll them up, and secure with a tooth pick as shown.

When all of the tortillas are done…

…bake them in the oven at 180C/350F, fan forced, until they are golden brown and crispy.

To make them crispy on all sides, it is better to turn them after 10 minutes and return them to the oven for the final 5 minutes.

Heat up the salsa verde in the microwave (or in a saucepan over low heat, stirring), stirring afterwards to ensure even heating.

To serve, put 3 tortillas on each plate. Cover them completely with warm salsa verde. Drizzle with Mexican cream. Sprinkle with cheese, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve at once, as you don’t want the tortillas to get soggy.

Flashback

For these smoked sardines a very cool way of smoking them is applied.