What's for Dinner Tonight? Leftovers Edition: Spicy Pork Enchilada Stack

Have I mentioned that I love Mexican food? I have? Have I mentioned it today? I. Love. Mexican. Food. This edition of What's for Dinner Tonight? features two things that I love. One, being the aforementioned Mexican food. The other? The repurposing of leftovers.

Tonight my husband did what he's best at - scrounging around in my pantry and refrigerator and creating a culinary masterpiece (with a little help from me!)!

A few days ago, this was a pork roast:

Tonight, it's happily shredded and the star of our new dish Spicy Pork Enchilada Stack.

First I shredded the leftover pork roast with two forks (and drove my pups nuts!), there was probably a good 1 1/2 pounds there. While I was doing that, my husband diced 1 smallish red onion, 1/2 of a red pepper, 5 diced chipotle peppers and 3 cloves of garlic. In a large saucepan he heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil, tossed the diced veggies in with 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the chipotles and sauteed for about 5 minutes, or until you could really smell the onion starting to breakdown.

Add to that the shredded pork and cook in the saucepan for about 10 minutes or until the pork is heated through.

In a bowl big enough to hold a tortilla, pour in a little bit of enchilada sauce. We had red on hand so that's what we used, although I would have preferred green with the pork. I cut a 7" flour tortilla in half and dredged each half in the enchilada sauce. I find that doing this keeps the tortillas from baking to a crisp when they go in the oven and it helps give each layer a nice enchilada base.

I took two tortillas (four halves) and placed the flat edges against each side of a 9x9 baking dish like so:

I started with tortillas in the bottom of the baking dish, added the pork/vegetable mixture, topped with cheese and a little bit of enchilada sauce and repeated the layers until my last layer was pork mixture topped with the remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.

It was really full, so I put the baking dish on a cookie pan and put in a preheated 375F oven and cooked for 25 minutes or until it was bubbly and the cheese on top was melted. After we pulled it out of the oven it looked like this:

We let it sit for 10 minutes and then couldn't take it any longer so we cut into it. All of the layers fell apart, so it didn't look much like a stack, but it was delicious!

Yup, two of my favorite things tonight - Mexican food and cooking with my husband!

Spicy Pork Enchilada Stack:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound pork roast cooked and shredded

• 1/2 red pepper, diced

• 1 small red onion, diced

• 5 chipotle peppers, chopped (remove the seeds if you don't want it too spicy)

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from chipotle peppers

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 (32 ounce) can enchilada sauce

• Monterey Jack Cheese

• 6-8 7" tortillas (flour or corn will work), cut in half

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. In a large saucepan heat the olive oil, add the pepper, onion, chipotles, garlic and adobo sauce and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the pork to the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes or until the pork is heated through.

4. Cut the tortillas in half and dredge each piece in a bowl of enchilada sauce. Place the tortillas in a 9x9 baking dish with the flat edges against the sides of the dish so that the tortillas overlap.

5. Layer the tortillas, then the pork/vegetable mixture, then cheese, then enchilada sauce. Repeat layers until your top layer is the pork mixture and top with cheese and enchilada sauce.

6. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

7. Let stand for 10 minutes once it comes out of the oven.

8. Top with sour cream, cilantro, green onion and salsa if desired. Serve.

#mexican #maindish #casserole