Chipotle Sausage and Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Enchiladas may take a bit of work to assemble but it is a dish that pays off when cooking for a crowd. A simple, homemade sauce spiced with easy to find chipotles in adobo sauce make all the difference here. Sweet potatoes add an unusual twist as well as an easy adaptation for an all vegetarian version.
Pairing Notes:
This sweet and spicy dish could make for a tricky pairing. Try with our Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Aged Semillon or low commitment Spanish Grenache such as Proyecto de Garnacha Fosca del Priorat which has enough acidity to cut through the richness and medium tannins for balance.
Time: 1.5 hours
Yield: 6 - 8 servings
500 gram sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
3 T. vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp. oregano
2 T. tomato paste
2 chipotle chilies in adobo, minced
¼ cup minced coriander roots and stems
700 grams tomato passata
375 grams chicken or vegetable stock
Salt
Pepper
500 grams pork sausage
24 corn tortillas
150 grams cheddar cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 190°C. Wash potatoes and wrap in foil. Roast for 30 – 35 minutes until tender to the touch. Let cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and cut the flesh into pieces 2cm by 2cm.
Meanwhile, mince garlic and chop onion. Heat 2 T. oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté garlic and onion until softened. Add tomato paste, minced chilies and their adobo sauce, oregano and minced coriander stems and stir until evenly distributed and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomato passata and chicken or vegetable stock and stir to combine. Bring to a low simmer and cook over medium low heat for 30 minutes. Let cool slightly then transfer to a blender and puree. Return to saucepan and add salt and pepper to taste. At this point the sauce can be refrigerated for several days until ready to assemble the enchiladas. If making immediately, keep warm.
While sauce simmers, remove sausage from casings. Heat remaining 1 T. oil in a medium sauté pan. Fry sausage meat, breaking up with a wooden spoon into small pieces until no longer pink and cooked through.
When ready to assemble enchiladas, gently mix sausage and diced sweet potato together in a medium bowl. Working ten at a time, place tortillas between damp paper towels on a plate and heat in the microwave or oven just warm.
In a 30 x 20 cm baking pan, spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom. Working one tortilla at a time, spread a tablespoon of sauce on the tortilla. Top with a couple of tablespoons of the sausage and sweet potato mixture. Roll the tortilla aroud the filling and place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until filling has all been used.
Ladle remaining sauce in a thin layer over the top of the rolled enchiladas. Top with grated cheese. Cover pan with foil and bake at 190°C for 25 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Serve warm.