Whenever I think of Mexican food, I think of my mother.  She wasn’t Mexican, but she could have been.  I’ve only had comparable or better Mexican food at old school Mexican cafes in California where nobody speaks English and there are a maximum of 12 tables. This was before Taco Bell, and burritos had beans/beef/pork in them with no rice.  Those days are gone.  It seems as if I’m going to be one of those whiny old ladies bemoaning the passing of an era.  Oh well.  Sigh…

I like onions a lot.  I’ve heard of people who don’t like onions but I don’t know them. They probably don’t like food at all, just eat to live, joylessly, stick thin, dry and no sense of humor.  Sort of sad 😀

Anyway.  The most important thing when making enchiladas is the sauce or tomato gravy. You can find an okay sauce in a can but it doesn’t compare to making your own and it’s fairly easy.

I would have made the corn tortillas if I had been smart enough to order the masa harina from Roger’s Mexican food website, but I didn’t and had to buy the inferior El Paso brand tortillas available in the supermarket.  Really stupid because I have a tortilla press that flattens and bakes the tortillas.  Of course nothing can compare to the tortillas that our neighbor patted out by hand.  She was from Mexico 🙂

I made these veal and cheese enchiladas to share at Willie and Toutoune’s house.   They had never eaten Mexican food and I thought it would be an experience 🙂  Although I did tone down the spices a bit(chili powder for babies), but there was still some huffing and blowing accompanied by deep sips from their wine glasses.

Babies!  Wait until I make authentic Thai!  But they did okay and loved the flavors.

I used “smart fix” on these pictures but bad lighting is bad lighting.  It’s okay, I’m over it 🙂 Unfortunately, I didn’t get the picture of Toutoune’s stuffed tomatoes with potatoes until we had already served ourselves.  Excellent casserole!  Have you seen this article?  It has to be satirical.

Toutoune and Willie have an excellent garden and Willie wins the award for the best garden in Sens every year.

Garden season is over and it’s raining constantly, so we couldn’t sit in the garden but  I wanted to.

Yes, Le Parret was there with his running buddy Maurice.  Maurice made a super quiche Lorraine for the entree.  M. Parret was uncomfortable because he was obliged to eat non-French food.  He had 2 helpings of the enchiladas.  He makes me laugh too much 😀

The stuffed tomatoes and the cheese were more to his taste with the very good wines that Willie served.  “Correct”.

Every one helped to arrange this cheese plate.  Basil leaves by Willie.

Okay.  To make the enchiladas, first make your tomato gravy.  You can make this days ahead and refrigerate.  Then cook the veal filling with onions, garlic, oregano and chili powder.  Add a little tomato gravy to moisten.  Warm the corn tortillas in a hot skillet, dip into the gravy, coating both sides, fill with the veal, sprinkle with cheese, then roll up and place in a baking pan that has a thin layer of tomato gravy on the bottom.  Spread some tomato gravy on the top of the enchiladas, sprinkle with cheese, cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400F.  Sprinkle the top with sliced black olives, if desired, before serving.

Enchilada Sauce (Tomato Gravy)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup flour

3  14 oz cans diced tomatoes

2 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp cumin

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups water

Salt and pepper

Cook the onion and garlic in the oil until just soft.  Whisk in the flour, cooking until the flour is no longer raw, about 2 minutes.  Don’t brown!  Stir and blend in the tomatoes until smooth.  Add the oregano, cumin, chili powder and sugar, then blend in the water.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.