Enchilada Pie

I owe a HUGE thank you and debt to Mrs PaleO for creating a tortilla recipe that is perfect for this.  The tapioca starch adds a certain elasticity that no paleo bread substitute has had to date.  She makes some really great recipes.  If you haven't seen her stuff, you HAVE to go to her blog and check it out.  Until then, the recipe for the tortilla bread can be found here. 

As soon as I saw her recipe blog with the flexible tortilla bread, I had a million ideas for it.  But first and foremost--a stacked tortilla!!  Don't you just really crave neolithic food from the old days sometimes?  Not the real thing--who misses bloated belly?!  But some of the flavours...  I checked out Chowstalker and Foodee and FastPaleo and I could not find a stacked enchilada anywhere.  I knew it had to be done.  Reading through the tortilla bread ingredients, I knew Orleatha had really hit the nail on the head with this one--she uses lard in this recipe, and in my pre-paleo days, the best home made tortillas were always made with lard.  The recipe is so easy, any husband can make it (my husband made the tortillas, and he's never made or rolled pastry before or anything like this.  He did just fine.)

So this is what I did.

First, go here and make the tortilla bread per Orleatha's instructions, except you need to make 3 large tortillas (instead of 4 small), as large as you can and still be able to get them to the fry pan.  Cook them lightly in a non-stick pan without any added oil.  Set aside, in layers of waxed paper.

Alright, now onto the stack!

Makes 6 servings.

Enchilada Sauce:

Ready to go into the oven

1 5-oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup medium salsa
2 tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mexican oregano (optional)
1 tbs olive oil

Meat:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 green pepper
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 cup cheddar, grated (optional)

Method:

First, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for your enchilada sauce.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In skillet on medium-high heat, brown beef and onions until meat is no longer pink.  Add green pepper and enchilada sauce and reduce heat to medium-low, allowing it to simmer for 5 minutes so the flavours can develop.

Divide your meat into 3 equal parts in the skillet.

In a pie dish, lay one tortilla.  Spoon 1/3 of the meat mixture over the tortilla.  Sprinkle with 1 tbsp lime juice.  Sprinkle with 1 tbs chopped cilantro.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheddar.  Repeat 2 more times.  Sprinkle entire dish with green onions.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and whole pie is heated through.  Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.  We cut this into 6 equal portions, but it was so good, I really wanted to go back for more.  You've been warned.  there was not one scrap of food left on either teen's plate tonight.

Serve with shredded lettuce, yogurt, and guacamole or sliced avocado.  My homemade guacamole is just 2 avocados, 1 tbs lime juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder.  That's it.

You could totally omit the cheese in this.  I used a small amount, very sparingly, but the flavour was so full, you wouldn't notice if it wasn't there at all.