Left-Mex: Grilled Vegetable Enchiladas

I never mind when there are leftover grilled vegetables in the refrigerator. To me, they always portend something wonderful in the making.

This week, the grilled veggies included zucchini, eggplant, onions, peppers, and corn.
The something wonderful, as you will soon see, is enchiladas.

Now, don't go getting on my case here. I know that these are a fairly big departure from anything truly authentic. But, I also don't care. Because they're downright delicious.

First, we chopped up the vegetables. Not too finely -- but enough that they'd behave properly when wrapped. Then, we tossed them with a bit of chipotle powder and a hint of salt. Now, I understand that this looks like a veritable mess right now. But, trust me. Eventually it turns into something wonderful.
On this particular day, we had some hand-thrown flour tortillas in the fridge. So, those served as the base for our enchiladas. We took approximately 1/2 cup of the seasoned, chopped vegetables and threw them on top of each tortilla... rolling them up into snug little packets.
Which we threw into a pan that had been generously lined with enchilada sauce.
When we're not making our own sauce, we like this particular variety from Trader Joe's. It's afforable, tasty, and (most importantly) chile-based. We are NOT big fans of tomato-based enchilada sauces at our house. So, we take great pains to avoid them.
Once we filled all the enchiladas (in this case, we had enough filling for about 10 tortillas), we poured the remaining sauce over the top. Just look at how those babies glisten in the sun (that's very important)!
You'll note that, in a rare effort to be health conscious, we didn't put any cheese inside the enchiladas. Well, dont' be deceived. We just saved it all for the top.
After popping them in a 350ºF oven for about 20-25 minutes, they were transformed into a very lovely thing (or 10 very lovely things, if you want to get technical).
After the margarita I drank while putting together the enchiladas, my photography skills (what few I have) went down the drain, so you'll excuse this humble composition. It does showcase the melted cheese nicely, though...



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Grilled Vegetable Heaven... on a Sandwich

When we get back from the farmer's market at this time of the year, I can't resist making one of my favorite summer treats -- grilled vegetable sandwiches.

First, I take a pile of vegetables and chop them into sandwich-sized pieces. This week, we happened to have some locally grown hydroponic orange peppers, a few baby eggplants from the farmer's market, some yellow summer squash, and a few little sweet onions from our CSA.
After some quality time on the grill, those vibrantly lovely veggies were reduced to a fantastically delicious shadow of their former selves. I'll admit to slurping up a few of the slices of caramelized eggplant before they ever made it CLOSE to the sandwiches.
Before I get too far ahead of myself I'd better tell you that, just before we grilled up those veggies, I mixed up the real key to a good summer veggie sandwich. Garlic basil mayonnaise.
No, I didn't go through the trouble of making my own (though that's NEVER a bad idea). But, in this particular case, even the cheater's approach is nothing short of glorious. A bit of garlic and some chopped basil transforms ordinary jarred mayonnaise into something truly extraordinary. And trust me, you ain't lived until you've taken a whiff of this delicious mess!!
Slather some of that extraordinary mayo on one side of a loaf of asiago pesto foccaccia from the local bakery... and pile the veggies high! Grab a side of grilled corn on the cob, and I'm pretty sure you'll be good and satisfied.

Oh, yum!
This is local eating at its finest! And no recipes necessary.



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