Red Chile Enchiladas -- Stacked, (almost) the way my mama made them -- Part 2 of 2

Okay, so I forgot to put in the recipe quantities and it isn't tomorrow. But here's the rest of the enchilada process.

Speaking of process, this really is a method more than a recipe. It is going to seem long and complicated because we took lots of pictures, but putting stacked enchiladas together really doesn't take all that long. The most important part is getting everything in place before you start. There are four essential ingredients -- enchilada sauce, grated cheese, chopped onions, and tortillas.

While gathering items and grating and chopping, etc., I preheat the oven, usually to 250 degrees Farenheit. I usually heat up enchilada sauce in a skillet unless I've just made a fresh batch, in which case I just use the big pot full of enchilada sauce. In any case, I warm up the sauce on low heat -- it really shouldn't be bubbling, just warm.

And a generous amount of grated cheese. We use Monterey Jack and Colby Longhorn Cheddar, and the amount varies depending on the number of enchilada plates being made. On the particular occasion on which these pictures were taken, four people were having enchiladas. Not that we worry too much about extra grated cheese -- somehow, it always gets used up within a few days.

Not everyone likes raw onions, but I chop them finely for those of us who do:

Most of us prefer corn tortillas in our enchiladas, but one of the offspring has decided that he prefers flour tortillas instead. I found small flour tortillas, a size generally called "gorditas", that are about the same size as corn tortillas and I have been using those for this particular child.

In this picture, the corn tortillas are on the right and the flour gordita tortillas are on the left.

Once all these components are assembled, and the sauce is warm, it's time to begin by cooking the tortillas lightly in the enchilada sauce. I drop in a tortilla (flour in this case):

Make sure it is entirely submerged in the sauce:

And then let it cook long enough to soften the tortilla. The first tortilla is the only one that really needs checking because the other steps are done while the next tortilla is cooking. When the tortilla kind of flops when you pick it up out of the sauce, it's ready.

Transfer the tortilla to an ovenproof plate. You can see the stack of plates waiting in the pictures above and below.

Before moving away from the stove to do anything else, place another tortilla in the enchilada sauce and make sure that it's covered. Each subsequent tortilla will cook while you assemble the rest of the dish.

Take the plate with the tortilla to the area where you have the grated cheese and chopped onions prepared. Ideally, this area should be no more than a step away from the stove.

And sprinkle grated cheese on the tortilla.

Chopped onions can also be added at this time. As you can see, the grated cheese and chopped onions are right next to each other for easy loading. Once you have enough cheese on the first tortilla, go back and take the next tortilla out of the sauce and put it on top of the first tortilla.

Put another tortilla in the sauce to cook, and then add more cheese and (optional) onions on top of the second tortilla.

This process can be repeated for more than two tortillas. There was a time when my husband ate a stack of 4 tortillas in his enchiladas. It's all in how much you want to eat -- cheese can be very filling.

When you have enough tortillas layered with cheese to fit your appetite (or the appetite of the person for whom you are preparing the enchilada), put the filled plate in the heated oven.

And then start on the next enchilada. Basically, this process is repeated for each enchilada plate you are preparing.

I can fit more plates into the oven, if necessary. It's a balancing process.

A couple of special cases should be mentioned here. Sometimes a person wants only one tortilla. It's possible, of course, to "stack" only one tortilla, but I prefer to put cheese and onions on half of the tortilla:

Then fold the tortilla over the filling:

And put more cheese and onions on top:

This method yield the "look and feel" of stacked tortillas without the extra food.

The other special case that occurs in my family is the family member who wants more sauce (and thus more spice). I just pick up some enchilada sauce on the spatula I use to remove the tortillas:

And then drip it onto the tortilla on the plate:

It is possible to transfer quite a lot of sauce this way and some people really prefer the additional sauce.

Once the oven is fully loaded with as many enchilada plates as we are making, I take the enchilada sauce off the heat, put away any leftover cheese, and take a short break so that the cheese can get all nice and bubbly in the oven.

There's no hard and fast rule for how long this break is. Sometimes I speed things up by turning up the heat on the oven to 300 or 350. I rarely leave the enchilada plates in the oven more than 15 minutes or so before starting the next step.

I said this was how my mama made enchiladas, and my mama cooked eggs to put on top of her stacked enchiladas. Not everyone likes an egg on top, not even in my own family. So do what works for your family.

You can fry the eggs in a traditional manner, but I poach eggs in enchilada sauce. I put a small amount of enchilada sauce in the skillet I use for making the enchiladas and add as many eggs as I need:

Then I cover the pan and cook the eggs over low heat until they are done:

This takes me about 10 minutes, but I check them frequently and move the pan around to make sure that all the eggs get cooked.

When the eggs are done, they are transferred to the top of a stack of enchiladas.

Typical accompaniments for stacked red enchiladas are refried beans, guacamole, sour cream, chopped lettuce, olives, or green onions.

Enjoy! Just remember -- just like they tell you in restaurants -- be careful, the plates are hot!