Amazing Enchilada Pie

Gluten-free, Vegetarian Enchilada Pie

Since most enchilada sauce is made with flour to thicken it, I had mostly just given up on eating and making enchiladas. I thought the sauce was the most important part of the dish, right? Even canned sauce is suspect since I had a bad reaction once. But those days are over! I searched on the Internet to find out how to make my own enchilada sauce. Turns out, it's not that hard. Using corn starch to thicken it makes it gluten free and adding the spices you want keeps it just as spicy as you like it. I read about 10 different recipes calling for all kinds of spices, flour, corn starch, etc. and decided to create my own...And after attempting to roll the tortillas, I gave up and decided it was easier to make this a layered pie instead. Still tasty and much easier, but if you feel like rolling, go for it.

I decided to fill it with veggie goodness since cheese enchiladas seems to be just a little overkill...but don't get me wrong. I still love cheese as you can see from the photo. There's plenty of cheese in there and if you're rocking this vegan, just use your favorite soy/rice cheese in place of the cheese I've used. Still yummy!

Amazing Enchilada Pie
Sauce
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used Trader Joe's)
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste (I used Trader Joe's)
About a tsp of each of the following, then keep tasting and tweaking till it meets your tastes
  salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried epizote, dried parsley
(if you don't have epizote, you can skip it. I just happen to have it as a gift from a friend)
2 tsp each cumin and chili powder
1 cup water
2 TBS corn starch

Enchiladas
1 doz. corn tortillas
1 sweet onion, chopped finely
2 cups frozen roasted corn (Trader Joe's)
2 cans black beans
1 1/2 cups frozen spinach
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground pepper
2 cups grated Mexican cheese
olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 and spray a glass pie dish. This recipe actually made three pies, so cut it in half if you don't need that much. Remember you can freeze them.
2. In a large pot, combine diced tomatoes (don't drain), tomato paste, 1/2 cup water and spices. Stir until mixed and let simmer while you make the enchilada filling.
3. To make the filling, use a large skillet and add the onion in some olive oil and cook until tender. Add a pinch of salt to the onion.
4. When the onion is soft, add the corn, black beans, spinach and spices. Mix and let it simmer for about 15 minutes to blend the flavors.
5. Use an immersion blender and blend the sauce until smooth. (you can use a blender if you don't have an immersion blender, but be careful since this is hot)
6. Mix corn starch with 1/2 cup of water and mix until corn starch is dissolved. Add it slowly to the sauce while stirring
7. Now it's time to layer the pies. On the bottom of the glass baking dish, spoon enough sauce to just cover the bottom. Layer with tortillas by ripping up the tortillas if needed to make one layer. Spoon the bean/corn mixture evenly over the tortillas (about a cup), then cover with a sprinkling of cheese.
8. Repeat with another layer of tortillas, veggie mixture and cheese.
9. Top off the pie with another layer of tortillas, then spoon about a cup of sauce to cover the top. Make sure no tortilla is left uncovered since it will get hard and burn in the oven. Cover this layer with cheese.
9. Repeat in the remaining baking dishes.
10. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove and let them sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

This is the cheesy goodness that came out of the oven! Yum!

This recipe made just enough sauce for the three baking dishes. Next time, I may double the sauce recipe to have a little extra. Other than that, these are the best I've ever made, or eaten. Even my husband said the sauce and enchiladas were better than any restaurant. High praise!

Enjoy!