Sombrero Optional

We've been eating Mexican food around here like it's going out of style.  I've been craving it, so we stopped at a Mexican shop in Edinburgh last week and paid WAY too much for green chiles and other necessities.  I just looked up recipes for enchilada sauce online and am now weeping at the simplicity of it and vowing never to pay for a mix or can of it again.  Anyhow, Saturday we made nachos (someone, bless his little Canadian heart, thought that tortilla chips are nachos and had to be shown Google images of actual nachos--tortilla chips smothered in cheese and other toppings before he would concede to my superior Mexican food knowledge).  Sunday we made burritos, and yesterday we ate the best enchiladas you have never eaten.  I will share the recipe with you because (a) I'm your friend and (b) Steve wants me to write it down so we can make it again some time.

The theme for the recipe was: What do we have in the cupboard?  Answer: butternut squash.  I looked up several butternut squash recipes, but they all wanted me to make special tomatillo sauces or include ingredients we don't have on hand, so this is what I came up with based on what I DID have in the house.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 onion
• minced garlic
• enchilada sauce
• mashed potatoes
• beans
• cilantro
• cheddar cheese
• this taco seasoning
• 8 tortillas

Method: 

1. Cook up that squash.  I peeled mine, cut it into huge chunks, and cooked it in the remoska.  It would be fine to bake or boil it. Once it's cooked, chunk it up into cubes.
2. Cut up the onion and saute in a pan until it's the way you like it.  Add the garlic (mine was frozen) and cook until it smells nice.  Stir in half the enchilada sauce (mine came from a packet that I mixed with tomato paste and water) and set aside.
3. Place your squash, beans (I cooked up 1/2 C of black and 1/2 C of pinto because that's what I had in the cupboard and they cook in the pressure cooker for the same amount of time), a cup or so of mashed potatoes (I only added them because I had some leftover in the refrigerator from an earlier meal), a handful of chopped cilantro, about a cup of shredded cheese, and a tablespoon or two of taco seasoning in a large bowl.  Pour the onion mixture over top and stir.
4. Pour a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of your pan.  Roll up about 1/2 C of filling in each tortilla and place seam side down in pan.  Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle cheese over top of that.
5. Bake covered at 350 F for 20 minutes and then uncovered for 10 minutes.
6. Serve with lettuce, creme fraiche (or sour cream), and salsa.
7. Graciously receive compliments from your spouse.