Shrimp Enchiladas with Sweet Potatoes and Salsa Verde

These enchiladas, filled with sweet potatoes, draw inspiration from other recipes on this site: sweet potato (yam) enchiladas and tacos with salsa verde. Here you get the sweet potato enchiladas, but in place of the traditional enchilada sauce, there is a halfway-homemade salsa verde. I say halfway because unlike the salsa verde with the tacos, where you roast the onions and tomatillos, here you blend some basic ingredients (like cilantro and green chiles) and add prepared salsa verde. This meal is a little different without much effort. In place of the usual chicken, there’s shrimp, and instead of cheddar, there’s feta, a little closer in texture to cotija, a cheese from Mexico. It’s something new for fall, when casserole dishes are most welcome and sweet potatoes are in heavy rotation.

 

 

 

 

 

Shrimp Enchiladas with Sweet Potatoes and Salsa Verde
Adapted from Bon Appetit

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 cups coarsely chopped cilantro
1 cup chopped green onions
1 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained
2 cups prepared salsa verde (tomatillo salsa)
¼ cup sour cream
1 pound cooked shrimp, tails removed
10 flour tortillas
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, combine the sweet potato cubes, sliced onion, olive oil, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and salt. Toss to coat. Spread the sweet potato mixture on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (no need to stir while baking).
2. While the sweet potatoes bake, make the salsa: Finely chop the garlic in a food processor. Add cilantro, green onions, and green chiles; process until a coarse puree forms. Add the salsa verde and process until blended. Add sour cream, and process again until blended.
3. When the sweet potatoes are done, reduce oven heat to 375 degrees. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a large bowl and add the shrimp; stir to combine and coat the shrimp in the spices.
4. Spread ½ cup of the salsa in the bottom of a large baking dish. Put some of the sweet potato/shrimp mixture in the center of a tortilla and top with about 2 tablespoons feta. Roll up the tortilla and place in the baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas,  filling, and cheese (you will have leftover filling and cheese).
5. Spread remaining filling on top of folded tortillas. Follow with remaining salsa. Top with any remaining cheese. Bake the enchiladas for 20 minutes.

Tomatillo Treasure: Tacos with Salsa Verde

In the spirit of expanding my horizons and whatnot, I’ve lately experimented with ingredients I don’t use often. One of these was mascarpone cheese. Another was tomatillos, which resemble a green tomato and are wrapped in a papery husk oozing sticky sap. If you got past “sticky sap” and are still reading, congrats, because this unusual vegetable transforms into an excellent sauce.

Tomatillos are members of the nightshade family, and are a longtime feature of Mexican cuisine (a really long time—they were favored by the Mayans and Aztecs, or so Wikipedia tells me). I’d only used them once before, and it was to make these tacos in college. I didn’t use tomatillos again until just recently, and that’s a shame, because salsa verde—the most common use for tomatillos—deserves a place on tacos, burritos, nachos, chicken, and anything else you can think of that works.

I began by broiling the tomatillos, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Broiling for more than a minute or two makes me nervous. When I think about it I picture a grilled cheese sandwich emerging from the oven blackened after an attempt to broil it. That image has come to represent all my broiling anxieties, which I had to set aside in order to make this meal. The promise of something delicious often wins over worries (not unfounded, mind you) about burning the food. Luckily, it all turned out fabulous: the tomatillos were pleasantly charred, the thin crescents of onion cooked to perfection.

From there, the recipe was less stress-inducing. I blended the tomatillos with a generous bunch of cilantro leaves, which weave their distinctive flavor throughout the sauce. It’s vibrant, as bright and pleasant as new spring leaves. Served on top of beans, cheese, and roasted pepper and onion, the sauce elevates this meal to something beyond—and better than—a regular weeknight taco. (Full disclosure: I added more cheese to my tacos after taking these pictures.)

Tomatillos may not look like much, tucked away in the produce section (well, that’s how it is at our local grocery), covered in muted green husks that belie their ability to transform into a versatile sauce. Once you discover them, I think you’ll see why they have such staying power.

Tacos with Salsa Verde

Olive oil for greasing the baking sheet
¾ pound tomatillos (about 6), husks removed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 onion, sliced into crescent strips
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced
1 cup (or more) grated white cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven broiler. Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Spread whole tomatillos and garlic cloves and sliced onion and bell pepper on the baking sheet. Broil for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, stir vegetables, and return to oven to broil 6 minutes more. The tomatillos should be charred in places and the onion and pepper should be soft and browned in some places.
2. Place cilantro leaves and roasted tomatillos and garlic in a food processor and pulse until a smooth sauce forms.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the beans over low heat. Heat the corn tortillas in the microwave or in the oven on low heat.
4. To assemble the tacos, place a couple small spoonfuls of black beans on a corn tortilla. Top with a couple bell pepper strips and onion slices. Top with a tablespoon or so of the salsa verde, avocado slices, and cheese. Repeat until the fillings and sauce are used up.