Not my best photo. I had friends waiting for their dinner, so I was rushing. They said it was worth the wait.
Every day the New York Times sends me a recipe or two. This one caught my eye because we love shrimp, enchiladas and verde sauce and it looked like I could make it pretty quickly. It has all the flavors of enchiladas without taking the time stuffing and rolling tortillas.
The recipe serves four so I invited another couple for dinner. I had no idea what could be made ahead (Why don’t recipes ever add that information?) so I was making everything pretty much last minute.
If you follow my career, you know making ahead is not the my preferred way to cook.
This is very tasty with quite a bit of extra sauce when finished. That is not a problem, verde sauce is great on so many things, including your eggs in the morning, The enchiladas are extremely tasty and easy to assemble.
After the tortillas are softened slightly, they are overlapped in the skillet. Then layered with shrimp, half the cheese, more sauce, another layer of tortillas, sauce and cheese. Cook covered for 5 to 7 minutes.
Tomatillos, one jalapeno and sliced onions cook until the tomatillos are softened. Then everything is transferred to the blender until smooth.
One-Pan Shrimp Enchiladas Verde
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
8 corn tortillas
1 jalapeño, seeds removed
2 pounds tomatillos, husks removed (about 20 tomatillos)
2 small red onions, peeled and sliced into rings
1 cup cilantro, leaves and stems, plus leaves for garnish
1/2 to 1teaspoon salt
1 pound medium shrimp (71 -90 count) peeled and deveined (patted dry)
6 ounces cotija or queso anejo, crumbled (about 1½ cups)
Mexican crema, crème fraiche, or sour cream, for serving
1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, fry tortillas two at a time, until soft and lightly brown on the edges, about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side, and set aside.
2.Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, along with jalapeño and tomatillos. Increase the heat to high and cook, covered, until tomatillos and jalapeño are blistered and starting to wilt, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add about 3/4 of the onions, reserving a few slices for garnish, reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the onions are soft and the tomatillos start to slump. Remove from heat to cool slightly.
3.Transfer tomatillos, onions and jalapeño to a blender along with most of the cilantro leaves and stems, and salt. Purée until completely smooth.
To prepare ahead: Sauce may be refrigerated for 2 days.
4.Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat over medium heat. Carefully add a third of the sauce (it will sizzle) and lower heat to medium-low. Layer four tortillas, overlapping slightly, along the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle all the shrimp and half the cotija over tortillas. Drizzle in another third of the sauce, followed by the remaining tortillas, sauce and cotija.
5.Cook, covered, over medium-low until shrimp is cooked through and the sauce is thickened and bubbly, and browning a bit around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat,
6. Sprinkle with sliced onions and cilantro and serve with crema, Crème Fraiche or sour cream for servings.
Makes 4 servings.
