Mom's Enchiladas - Secret Family Recipe

You should feel special. It's not every day I decide to post a super secret family recipe. But after having Mom's Worlds Famous Enchiladas last night I feel obligated to share.

The story goes, that WAY back when, before the dinosaurs, there was a little Mexican restaurant on the corner of my mom's childhood street called El Patio. Mom says, the "mother" or "grandmother" who was the main cook there invited her into the kitchen to witness the miracle of making enchiladas. And thus the recipe was born. Not sure how close this recipe resembles that of El Patio, but I don't really care since it's delicious.

Special note - these are not lo-cal, nor should they be. Period.

Ingredients:
Corn tortillas (a dozen or two depending on how many you want to make - 20 fit nicely in a 13X9 inch Pyrex)
Ground beef - approximately a pound
1 can chopped olives - drained
Lots of cheese - you'll need cheese for inside the enchilada and for the top of them...so lots. I used a bag last night and I only made 10 enchiladas.
1 can Enchilada sauce (DO NOT use taco sauce/salsa. La Victoria - I think - has Enchilada sauce. You can find it in any Mexican section of any grocery store. They have it in mild and hot - you decide what pain you want to inflict.)
1 chopped onion
Optional: I can green chili's diced. Mom uses this I don't.
1 pint sour cream
Vegetable oil - about 2 cups

Okay, ready for this.
First - turn on your oven to 350F.
Second - cook your ground beef.

Side bar on the super secret ground beef recipe:
Mom never EVER used the taco seasoning from a packet. Instead, cooking the ground beef using salt and pepper as seasoning, once it's cooked and drained - hit it with chili powder - about 2 T or so. That's your seasoning. I guarantee you you'll never use taco seasoning again.

Okay - so ground beef is cooked. Put the oil in a pan and heat. You'll be using this to relax the corn tortillas. See, corn tortillas are not very flexible when you get them out of the bag. I've tried putting them in the microwave to make the pliable, and while it worked, the flavor of the enchilada's were off. So I use the oil.

One at a time, dip the corn tortillas in the oil just long enough to make them flexible. Less than 3 seconds per side. DO NOT over cook - you're not making tostadas. If your oil is hot enough it is literally put the tortilla in, coat it, flip it,and bring it out. Drain them on paper towels.

Now - set up your assembly line.
Open the olives and green chili's if you're using it.
Have a spoon in the sour cream ready to go
Cheese in a bowl
Ground beef near by
Onions chopped.

Stick with me here.
Put a tortilla on a flat surface (mom rolls them in the Pyrex she's baking them in - I use a cutting board and move them to the Pyrex).
Slather with sour cream down the middle. A spoon full should do it. Make sure the sour cream extends to both sides. You want to be sure to get a bite of sour cream in each bite.
Next - put a spoonful of beef over the sour cream.
Next - cheese, olives, onions and green chili's if you're using this.
Roll the tortilla into a tube. Transfer it to the pyrex with the seam down.
Repeat until all the tortilla's are used.
Its' recommended you taste one too. Just n case, cuz you never know if it'll be good or not. Plus,there's always one tortilla that gets a hole in it or ripped.

Now that you've got them all in a dish. SHAKE the enchilada sauce. Pour over the enchiladas covering each one of them completely. Don't just pour it over haphazardly, take your time. Use a small stream of sauce and cover each one lovingly.

Cover with cheese and remaining olives and chili's.

Bake at 350 until the cheese is bubbling. Let stand for as long as you can stand it (5 minutes) and dig in.

OMG - I'm starving.