Stacked Ranchero Enchiladas

I was inspired today to make stacked enchiladas by a recent post by The Pioneer Woman. She shared a recipe for an Easy Green Chile Enchiladas. I thought long and hard about what kind of enchilada I would like to try stacked. But the one enchilada that kept coming to mind was the Superior Enchiladas at Superior Grill. They are filled with grilled steak, cheese and a chunky tomato based sauce that actually has celery in it. They are delicious and smokey. My version will feature grilled marinated flank steak, cheese and ranchero sauce. I decided to use some of the leftover chimichurri and add a little chipotle to marinate my steak. As far as a sauce, I like a Ranchero Sauce from Chef Aaron McCargo Jr. I decided to add some celery to his recipe and keep the veggies chunky. Here is how it stacked up.

Stacked Ranchero Enchiladas

Serves 3

Ingredients

3/4 lb flank steak

1/2 cup chimichurri sauce[click here for recipe]

1 Tbsp chipotle pepper and adobe, minced

9 small corn tortillas

1 cup 2 % Mexican blend cheese, shredded

1-1/2 cups Ranchero Sauce [recipe follows]

Cilantro for garnish

Directions

Combine chimichurri sauce and chipotle pepper. Place in a plastic bag, add flank steak and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Remove steak from refrigerator and bring to room temperature.

Meanwhile prepare Ranchero Sauce. When sauce is prepared preheat grill on high for 10 minutes. Grill steak 5 minutes on each side for medium rare. Remove from the grill cover with foil and let the steak rest.

Meanwhile in the oven (on a baking sheet) or microwave, melt cheese all over the top of each tortilla so that it covers most of the surface area.

To serve, stack three cheesy tortillas on top of one another. Add 1/3 of the steak. Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the top and garnish with cilantro.

Ranchero Sauce

Adapted from: Chef Aaron McCargo Jr.

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

1 rib celery, sliced

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 (15-ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced*

1 tsp adobo sauce*

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper to taste*

Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the oil. Stir in the onion, garlic and celery and cook until softened. Add tomatoes, chiles, chipotle and adobe sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the spices and cook until well incorporated and slightly reduced, about 3 to 4 minutes.

*Note: Chipotle peppers can be very, very hot. I have made this sauce several times. One out of the three times I made it, it was almost too hot. I suggest adding half of the chipotle, adobo and black pepper then tasting the sauce before adding more. If you do not like spicy foods be sure to remove the seeds from the chipotle pepper or just use the adobo sauce instead.