Black Bean Enchiladas with Red Sauce

I wish I had some great story for you today, but in actuality I'm being rushed to get out the door right now. I'm about to go to the hospital to pick out my patient for tomorrow - that's right, I get to pick out my patient. Anyways, this is a recipe that comes from my Foodbuzz 24x24 party last month. I thought it would be great to do two different enchiladas, this being a healthier vegetarian option. Everything is homemade, and I would make these again in a heartbeat.

I made my own corn tortillas for this, but buying them store bought is totally fine, and probably way more normal. The filling is a homemade black bean mash. I actually found the filling to be lacking a little flavor which is why I ended up putting some cheese in each tortilla. The red sauce more than makes up for it, though. You could also easily substitue canned black beans for dry, just sautee them with some garlic and onions before you mash them.

Black Bean Enchiladas with Red Sauce

For the black bean filling:

1 cup dried black beans, reconstituted in water overnight
4 cups water
1 onion, peeled and halved
8 garlic cloves, peeled
salt

Drain and rinse the beans twice. Bring the beans, water, onions, and garlic to a boil in a large pot. Turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, until the beans are tender and there is only a little water remaining. Remove the outside of the onion and strain, reserving some cooking liquid. Season with salt to taste. Using a potato masher, mash the beans to a chunky consistency, adding more cooking liquid as needed.

For the red sauce:

3 tbl vegetable oil

1 tbl flour

1/4 cup chili powder

2 cups chicken stock

10 ounces tomato paste

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat add the oil. Whisk in the flour and use a wooden spoon to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add the stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Season to taste. 

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse.

To assemble:

6-7 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
black bean filling
red sauce

Roll up each tortilla with a little cheese and black bean filling. Place in a baking dish and repeat until you've made all the enchiladas. Cover heavily in red sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Serve!