A Good Chili Powder Mix starts with a Good Spice inventory

Sometimes I want to do a quick little recipe that turns out to be a complex and multi stage event;  you have to wonder which part of the recipe to post. I wanted to make some cheese and beef enchiladas for the kids and thought that it would be a fast dirty recipe to post.

Nope, not in my house, of course we need hand crafted taco mix for the meat mix. Wait to make the taco mix you have to make homemade CHILI POWDER from scratch. Nothing is easy around here; as most of you are aware, I tend to do this to myself all the time.

For the following recipes double or triple the ingredients depending on your needs, just use the same ratio.

Chili Powder Custom Tailored to Your Taste

Never, never, never buy stale chili powder again, you will recall I roast my own peppers in the fall, but I also buy dried peppers from my supplier, such as ancho peppers (dried poblano peppers) and chipotle pepper (smoked and dried jalapeno). The hardest thing is to find a source of whole chili peppers, there is always ordering on line for decent prices. To make fresh chili powder use as many whole dried peppers as you can and grind in your own coffee mill.

Black Pig Chili Powder

2 tablespoons Ancho Powder

2 tablespoons Chipotle Powder

4 tablespoons Paprika Powder

2 tablespoons Cumin Seed

2 teaspoons Cayenne (optional)

Sure buying chili powder is fast and cheap but never better then making it on your own. You can buy the individual chillies already ground but again it will not be your best. When you are serious about flavour, then do it yourself, right from scratch right from the dried whole pepper.

Toast the peppers in oven till the oils start to bleed, the seeds in the frying pan till fragrant. Grind in spice mill to fine consistency.

Black Pig Taco Mix

½ cup Chili Powder

¼ cup Garlic Powder

¼ cup Onion Powder

¼ cup Toasted Cumin Seed

¼ cup Corn Flower

1/8 cup Salt

TO toast the cumin in a fry pan, shake frequently, as it starts to smoke you will smell the change in fragrance, this is one of my favorite scents in cooking, cool the seeds and grind to fine powder. Mix remaining ingredients and store in air tight container. This is great with ground beef or cooked chicken

Finally on to the cheese enchiladas, frack there is more ground work getting to these then explaining to the wife why I need another BBQ on the back deck.

By the way Barb... spring is in the air... grills are on my mind...  can you say pellet smoker?

Simple Cheesy Enchiladas

2 lb ground beef

½ cup taco mix

1 cup water

2 cups nacho cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar

7 inch burrito shells (flat bread)

Oil to coat

Before you ask, no I am not making the cheese myself, nor the soft shells. While it has crossed my mind, self preservation usually kicks in about this time. It is the same issue as with home made pasta, really good but not worth the pasting I get at clean up time.

Brown the meat, drain grease and add 1/2 cup of taco mix with 1 cup of water (2 depending on your pan), mix and reduce till fluid is gone. Heat soft shells in the microwave for 1 minute so they are pliable, add scoop of meat, cheese and shredded cheese (yes double cheese, cause that what the boy likes) roll and place into pan. Brush on oil to coat and place in 400(f) over for 10 – 15 minutes. If you like, take out ½ through the cook time and top with salsa, cheese, or tomato sauce or all three if you like.
 
My kids like to eat these for lunch the next day like a sandwich so its dry enchiladas in my house.

Let's recap, three recipes just to make leftovers for the week, go figure. Why is it my kids are not eating sandwiches like the rest of their class, another thing I am likely to blame for...

Mucho success on all three accounts…

Cheers from the Big Dog