Skillet Enchiladas

The majority of my time in Arkansas was dreaming about coming to Louisiana where I was promised a hotel with a kitchen.  Seriously, having no kitchen and nothing to do was really wearing on me.  While telling my husband how the first thing I wanted to make was enchiladas because it seemed impossible to find good Mexican food in southern Arkansas, he responded that he didn't think the hotels would have ovens.  Whaaa?  My heart completely sank.  Not just for the enchiladas but I was planning on baking to fill up this boring unproductive time in the hotel while he works.  Fortunately, I've found ways to adapt and use the stove more than I was planning.  Still craving good Mexican food, I created skillet enchiladas, made completely on the stove top.  It turned out great and I think it's a great way to make enchiladas for a couple people without having to heat up the oven.  

Lucky for me, the night I figured out a way for this to work, I had leftovers from tacos I made the night before.  The ingredients don't matter so much with this as it is more about the technique, but I used green enchilada sauce, refried beans, ground beef, Spanish rice, flour tortillas, salsa, and cheese.

 I found that the key to doing this was having all the ingredients warm in the first place.  Whether you are using leftovers or starting new, make sure all the ingredients going on the inside the enchilada are heated through.

 I even warmed the enchiladas up for a few seconds in the microwave.

 Put a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Do not turn on the pan yet or you probably end up burning the bottom of the enchiladas.

 Smear more sauce onto a tortilla then add your fillings down the middle.

 Roll up the tortilla then place it in the pan, seam-side down.

 Once you have filled your pan, evenly poor more sauce over the enchiladas.  I ended up having about a half a can left.  Cover the pan and turn on the heat to medium.  There is no real science to this but you do have to time it right so the whole thing is heated through but the bottom isn't burned.  You just want to keep it on until the centered is heated through.  This shouldn't take long because everything should be warm before going in.  For me, this took about 10 minutes.

 At this point I covered with cheese and and salsa.  The bottom of my enchiladas were a little brown but far from burned, and my husband thought that was the best part.

 I paired up this husband-sized portion with some salad and peas.  Yum!