Beef and Black Bean Enchiladas

What defines comfort food? I've been craving comfort food a lot lately. With the shorter days and cooler temperatures, I just wanna snuggle and eat warm foods (the exception being mint chocolate chip ice cream--you're probably from Wisconsin if on a cold, dreary day, you find comfort in a carton of ice cream). For me, comfort food is warm, gooey, saucy, salty, and/or spicy, and easily eaten with a  spoon. The comfort foods that come to mind are  chili, mac'n'cheese, mashed potatoes, bacon, stew and, apparently, enchiladas (though that falls into the greater category of Mexican food).

Today, I walked home dreaming of the enchiladas I was going to make. The tricky part was that I didn't want to go to the grocery store and would have to rely on what was in my fridge, freezer and cupboards. As I'm currently writing the qualifying exam for my graduate program, making time to grocery shop hasn't been a priority. When you get a care package containing breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, it's probably a hint from someone who loves you that you need to take care of yourself. Because I started going to yoga again to undo the damage from my qualifying exam, I don't feel so bad about all of my high-calorie cravings like enchiladas. Luckily I'd just frozen a cup and a half of "chicken broth" (meaning the water leftover from braising a chicken breast) and stewing beef that was on quick-sale. When I got home, I walked straight into the kitchen and started making enchilada sauce.

Objective
Make enchiladas to feel better and warm up from the inside out.  The enchilada sauce is based on an Emeril Lagasse recipe. The enchilada recipe comes from Food Pusher.

Materials
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
3 Tbs chile powder
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup tomato sauce (I used up leftover spaghetti sauce)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 pound stewing beef
1 1/2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef Base (or 1 1/2 bouillon cubes)
1 cup refried black beans
4 10" flour tortillas or 8-10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Methods
1. Heat oil in a medium sized saucepan. Add flour and stir for one minute. Add chile powder and stir 30 seconds longer. Add broth, tomato sauce and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes. Adjust spices if necessary.
2. Add the meat and bouillon to the simmering sauce. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Remove from heat. Shred the beef (tip: put the chunks of cooked meat in Kitchen Aid stand mixer and beat on med-high for about two minutes until shredded).
3. Prepare an 8x8 inch square baking dish.
4. Spread each tortilla with beans, add shredded beef and drizzle with a bit of the enchilada sauce. Roll and place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat to fill the dish. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Broil until the cheese melts and starts to brown. Serve immediately (may need to microwave ~15 seconds to ensure the filling is still warm).

Results
This was exactly what I was craving. Heavy on beans, light on meat. A little saucy, a little spicy.

Discussion
Truthfully, because I could adjust the sauce to my taste, these were better than what I would have gotten at a restaurant in St. Louis. The only annoying part was the wait. I wasn't able to eat dinner until well after 8:30. Next time (provided I had advanced warning of my craving), I would prepare the sauce ahead of time and cook the meat in the crockpot. But, since these cravings often come with no warning, I'm glad to know I can have enchiladas in just over 2 hours! Yum! These are without a doubt the best enchiladas I've ever made. That says a lot because I generally only make enchiladas suizas because of my insane love of salsa verde. I will definitely make these again!

Supplementary Information