It was Hatch Chile season a few weeks ago (see the Smart Kitchen’s witty writeup) and I was seduced by the smell of freshly roasting chilies outside of the grocery store and picked up a still warm bag of roasted chilies. We had company that weekend, so the bag got tossed in the fridge and I remembered them 3 days later. I pondered what to make and came up with this tortilla bake. It was really good, but not too kid friendly (at least to my spice-averse munchkins) due to the heat.
It is a bit time intensive. I prepared it in shifts and you could easily make the components the day before.
Green Salsa
First, make a green salsa. Or buy one. I won’t tell, heck, I won’t even know.
If you want to make one, I used this Tyler Florence recipe for the green salsa portion and followed it exactly. Since I made no changes, I’m not posting the recipe. I think Tyler Florence has more money than me and I don’t want any lawsuits for copyright infringement. First the tomatillos, onion and jalapeno are boiled together.
Before
After
The cooked tomatillos, onions and jalapenos were blended with cilantro and lime juice to make over 4 cups of salsa. I saved 2.5 cups for future use.
Red Lentil, Hatch Chile and Sweet Potato Filling
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 2 Tbsp grapeseed or olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 0.5 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/4 c diced yellow squash
- 1 1/2 c cubed sweet potatoes
- 1 c red lentils, rinsed and sorted
- 2 c water (or veggie broth)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 c chopped, peeled roasted green chilies (I used Roasted Hatch Chilies)
- 1 c cilantro (less if you aren’t addicted to cilantro like I am)
Directions:
1. Heat oil over medium heat and add onions. Cook slowly until browned.
2. Increase heat to medium high. Add garlic, cumin and chili powder and saute for about 1 minute to slightly toast the spices.
3. Add the yellow squash and saute 2 minutes.
4. Add the rinsed lentils and sweet potatoes, along with the water or broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered for 15-20 minutes or until lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.
5. Turn off heat and stir in cilantro and the roasted chilies. Remove from heat.
Corn Tortilla Layer
I tried a similar recipe a month or so ago and used corn tortillas straight out of the package. They ended up a little soggy in the final product (both the filling and salsa are pretty liquid-y), so I used this technique for this recipe. Baking the tortillas dries them out a little and allows them to maintain some texture in the final dish.
Ingredients:
- 8-10 small corn tortillas
- Cooking Spray
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cut tortillas into eights. Arrange on a greased cookie sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray.
- Bake 8-10 minutes, turning once, or until slightly crispy.
Once you’ve got your three components prepared, the recipe gets pretty easy.
Hatch Green Chile, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Tortilla Bake
Ingredients:
- 8-10 corn tortillas, baked as described above
- 1.5 cups green salsa
- 2 cups Red Lentil, Sweet Potato and Hatch Chile filling
- 1/2 c shredded cheese
- Place a layer of 1/3 of the corn tortillas, followed by 1/3 of the green salsa and 1/3 of the filling.
2. Repeat two more times, ending with chile filling on top.
3. Top with cheese.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown and casserole starts to bubble a bit.
Dinner is served!
As a bonus, you’ll have leftover green salsa and chile, sweet potato filling. I froze the filling to use in a future dinner and we’ve been enjoying the salsa with chips and atop dinners.
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Tags: cilantro, husband friendly, recipe
What a perfect fall meal (even though it is probably still super hot in Texas!) – love the addition of lentils, I would never think to add that!
i always love your version of TEXMEX way better! this is a great example. Lentils and green chili, yes please.
Are you gorging on Tex Mex before you leave? I would be!
i think my daughter (18 mos) would love this, as she’s already well on her way to being a Mexican food aficionada (quesadillas 3x/week). I love the addition of lentils to make it healthy! I think I’ll remove the chili though and substitute in some paprika to see how it goes.
Did you finally get to enjoy some chips and salsa? This meal sounds *amazing*! All of my favorite flavors combined in one dish.Perfect for a cool fall evening! Now, if only I could find some Hatch chiles…
This recipe is actually pre-cleanse. But, I did fall off the wagon this weekend and eat some chips. They were spectacular.
Thanks for asking.
my husband bought a ton of hatch chiles last month and is still trying to use them up! this looks like a perfect way. yum!
There is a Hatch Chile hummus recipe on the Smart Kitchen blog link in the post that looks so good. It would be a good way to use some. I didn’t buy enough this year.
WOW. This is amazing!! I did a post last season on hatch chiles. Roasted, they really are the best chiles ever. Without a doubt. I can’t believe I don’t get to eat them whenever I want anymore. *sigh*
Remind next year when it’s chile season and I’ll do a swap with you: hatch chilies for some trader joe goodies.
Holy crap….how freaking impressive are you?
wow, this sounds so flavorful and filling!
I missed this one! Seriously this is awesome and you have given me another great recipe to try!!