just hearing the words “presidential debates” makes our tummies rumble, so in an effort to feed eight debate viewers on wednesday night, we opted for veggie enchiladas- what’s more American than Tex-Mex, right?

we met at dc’s capitol supermarket for an admittedly improv-ed shopping trip.  1 basket of groceries and $25 later, we were ready to cook.

to recreate these cheesy veggie enchiladas, you’ll need:

20 corn tortillas

3 zucchini squash (we used a mexican variety, you can use whatever is in season!)

1 red onion

2 cups mushrooms

2 cups corn (we used frozen because the cobs looked sub-par)

1 poblano pepper

3 tbs cumin

s&p to taste

1 cup queso fresco

for the creamy poblano sauce:

2 cups milk

1 cup vegetable stock

2 cups sour cream

1 large poblano

1 tbs cumin

1/2 cup queso fresco

1/2 cup monterrey jack cheese

1 can chopped hatch green chiles

We needed poblanos for the filling and the sauce, so Julia fire-roasted the peppers while I diced the red onion, zucchini & mushrooms.  I added the corn to the diced veggie mixture, mixed in cumin, s & p, and spread it out onto a baking sheet.  The veggies roasted at 400 degrees for ~20 minutes, until they were caramelized.  We then mixed in on of the poblanos and the crumbled queso fresco and fed the mixture to each other with tortilla chips for approx. 3 minutes.

While the veggies were roasting, we got to work on the sauce.  We built it in the cuisinart- great idea!  Pulsed the fire-roasted poblano, can of green chiles, milk, sour cream, monterrey jack and queso fresco together until smooth.  We seasoned it with cumin and a bit of hot cayenne pepper.

Time to build the enchiladas!  We ladeled some of the sauce into the bottom of the baking dish to keep these babies tasty on all sides.  To get the corn tortillas soft enough to work with, we microwaved them for 30 seconds.  You really want these to be hot while you’re filling them, or else they’ll crumble.  We filled the tortillas, rolled them and squished them into the baking dish before covering the whole thing with tons of the creamy sauce.

These enchiladas baked at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes before we served them with delicious Cilantro-Lime Black Beans.

Happy Eating!

The Hungry Texans