Mozzarella Enchiladas with Spicy Beans

I was thinking of doing cheese enchiladas for meatless Monday. I had some tortillas, all I needed was a recipe for the red sauce. I spent at least an hour sifting through recipe searches on the computer before I gave up and went to bed. There seemed to be 2-3 different base recipes, and many involved lard or chicken stock. (Which I wanted to avoid to keep it meatless). There was one that I thought looked good and could work but "red chili powder" was in it. What the heck is that?  Cayenne?  I didn't think so and the Internet failed me. But I digress....  The next morning, Monday, I make a quick search of vegetarian enchiladas on Food and Wine and I thought this one sounded good and it totally cheats by making the enchilada sauce out of marinara!  The preparation of it wasn't difficult. The hardest part was mincing the onion and jalapeño. If it didn't require a 30 bake time, it would be pretty fast too. I did do some alterations. 1) I had puréed a can of chipotles in adobo and frozen what I didn't use. I opted to use 2 tablespoons if this in place of the "3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and minced". It had a nice kick so I'm glad I didn't go with the 3 tablespoons I had originally planned. If you adore super spicy then go for it. If you are a complete wimp, go for 1.5 but the 2 tablespoons were perfect for us. 2) I had about 2 cloves of roasted garlic in the fridge that needed to be used up so I threw them in with the beans just before they were done cooking. 3) I had flout tortillas on hand that needed using so I made dinner with them rather than buy the corn tortillas just for this. My husband thought the sauce smelled a bit like pepperoni but I assured him it was meatless. We all loved it!  I hate to be free with the 5 stars but it totally was, especially for meatless recipes since my boys are die hard carnivores!




Mozzarella Enchiladas with Spicy Beans

 

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for brushing

1 small red onion, minced

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

One 19-ounce can red kidney beans, drained

Salt

One 28-ounce jar marinara sauce

3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Ten 8-inch corn tortillas

1 pound fresh mozzarella—4 ounces shredded, the rest cut into ten 3-by-1 inch rectangles

1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese

2 scallions, thinly sliced 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the onion and jalapeño and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the beans and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the beans are flavored with the onion, about 5 minutes. Season with salt.

In a medium bowl, stir the marinara sauce with the chipotles and cumin and season with salt. Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

On a baking sheet, brush both sides of the tortillas with oil. Bake the tortillas for 30 seconds, until just pliable. Set a slice of the mozzarella in the center of each tortilla, and top with about 3 tablespoons of the beans. Fold the tortillas to enclose the filling. Arrange the enchiladas in the baking dish and pour the remaining chipotle marinara sauce on top. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the enchiladas, then sprinkle on the pecorino.

Bake the enchiladas in the upper third of the oven for about 30 minutes, until crisp on top and bubbling. Scatter the scallions on top and serve.

Make Ahead The unbaked enchiladas can be refrigerated in the baking dish for up to 2 hours.