New Mexican hot dish, stacked not rolled

Name: New Mexican hot dish, stacked not rolled
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tbsp flour; 1 onion, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 jalapeño, minced; 2 tsp chile powder; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 × 14 oz can chopped tomatoes; ¼ cup water; 12 corn tortillas; 2 cups cheddar and American cheese, grated; chopped raw onion, crème fraîche and salsa, to serve; salt

Enchiladas that gave up on rolling and lay down in layers instead.

At a Glance

Time

1 hr

Serves

Story

In New Mexico you stack enchiladas, you do not roll them, and the state takes its chiles seriously enough that the official state question, a real one on the books, is red or green. This is a red. Green would not object, but it was not asked.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp flour
1 onionchopped
3 cloves garlicminced
1 jalapeñominced
2 tsp chile powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 × 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
¼ cup water
12 corn tortillas
2 cups cheddar and American cheesegrated
chopped raw onioncrème fraîche and salsa, to serve
salt

Method

Another no-recipe recipe I have wrangled into amounts for you, a Tex-Mex stack built like a lasagna and eaten with a spoon. The crème fraîche on top is the house move, cooler and cleaner than the usual dollop, and it holds its nerve against the chili instead of sliding off.

Brown the beef in the oil with the flour and a pinch of salt, breaking it up as it goes. The flour does quiet work, thickening the juices into something that clings. Lift the meat out and set aside.
In the same pan, soften the onion, garlic and jalapeño in the fat. Return the beef and season with the chile powder, cumin and oregano.
Add the tomatoes and the water and let it reduce to a loose, spoonable chili, 5 minutes or so. Taste for salt.
Heat the oven to 425. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet a few seconds a side so they turn supple, the difference between a stack that holds and one that shatters.
Spoon a little chili into a casserole dish, then lay tortillas flat across it like the first sheet of a lasagna. Repeat, chili then tortillas, building your strata. Finish with the last of the chili and all the cheese.
Bake until bubbling and blistered on top, about 20 minutes. Serve with raw onion, a spoon of crème fraîche and salsa alongside.