Categories: Meats, Latin, Usenet 
      Yield: 6 servings 
  
      2 lb Ground meat (mixed 
           -ground beef and 
           -ground pork) 
      1 md Onion 
    1/2    Green pepper 
      5    Garlic cloves 
      1    Cilantro bunch 
    1/2 t  Red pepper 
    1/2 t  Salt 
    1/2 t  Cumin (or more) 
    1/2 c  Wine or sherry 
    3/4 c  Black olives 
  1 1/2 c  Enchilada sauce 
    1/2 c  Tomato sauce 
           -(1 small can) 
     12    Corn tortillas 
    1/2 lb Monterey jack cheese 
    1/2 c  Sour cream (optional) 
           Oil 
  
  Chop onion and garlic; place them in a frying pan with the ground meats. 
  Saute them without adding fat.  When meat is brown, add the chopped green 
  pepper and most of the cilantro leaves and cook for another minute or two 
  (until green pepper is cooked bright green).  Drain well, then add (about) 
  several tablespoons of the enchilada sauce and cook for a few minutes 
  longer. Set aside. 
   
  Make the sauce:  into a saucepan, pour the remaining enchilada sauce (from 
  the can). Add the can of tomato sauce. Add the wine or sherry, cumin, salt, 
  red pepper, and cook for 10-30 minutes (depending on how compulsive you 
  are). The flavor should be smooth (not gritty) and spicy. 
   
  Collect together everything that you will need for assembling the 
  enchiladas. Grate the cheese onto wax paper. Have the olives handy (you'll 
  be cutting them in half). Lightly oil the baking dish. 
   
  The frying pan from which you drained the meat mixture still has some of 
  its grease left in it. Take 4 tortillas from their package, separate them 
  from each other, then one-by-one, slide them over the frying pan surface on 
  each side, to moisten them slightly with the grease. That done, stack them 
  in the frying pan and heat them until they are soft and pliable. 
   
  The final  assembly requires a bit of manual dexterity and speed:  Take the 
  tortillas, and place them (bumpy side out) in the oven  dish, curved into a 
  "U" shape, each right next to its neighbor.  (At this point, start heating 
  your  next 4 tortillas in the frying pan.  I usually wind up preparing 10 
  tortillas in all.) 
   
  Place a small handful of cheese into the U of each tortilla, followed by an 
  appropriate amount of meat mixture, and finally several olive halves.  Then 
  curl one end of the tortilla around to tuck into the opposite end, and 
  carefully rotate it to conceal the seam.  Each tortilla should be filled 
  firmly (not too loosely) but not overflowing the ends. 
   
  Once all the filling is used up and the enchiladas are now filled 
  tortillas, pour the sauce over the top, helping it run into all the 
  crevices. Sprinkle lightly with remaining cilantro leaves. 10 Cover with 
  aluminum foil and bake for 20-30 minutes, just until the tortillas are soft 
  and the sauce is slightly bubbly. Let sit for 5 minutes, then serve, topped 
  with a dollop of sour cream. If you fail to drain the meat well enough, the 
  enchiladas will be greasy. If over-baked, it tastes all right, but the 
  tortillas lose their texture. In general, however, the recipe is quite 
  forgiving in its proportions. Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your own 
  tolerance for hot spice. I like to assemble this recipe at least 3 hours 
  before baking to give the flavors a chance to blend. Left refrigerated for 
  a day, the seasoning is even less aggressive. Served with a salad (and some 
  Mexican beer), it's a complete meal. 
   
  NOTES: 
   
  *  Enchiladas with meat, black olives and cheese -- For many years, I've 
  been involved in Latin American "solidarity work" here in the San Francisco 
  area, and as a result, I have learned some of its culinary pleasures. This 
  recipe originated from the back of a can of enchilada sauce in Mexico, but 
  was refined by a special Chilean refugee friend who won a scholarship to 
  the California Culinary Academy (in San Francisco) and now cooks 
  ever-so-lusciously.  Yield:  Serves 6-8. 
   
  : Difficulty:  moderate. 
  : Time:  1 hour preparation, 30 minutes baking. 
  : Precision:  Approximate measurement OK, but time the baking carefully. 
   
  : Karen Kerschen 
  : EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, Calif., USA 
  : karen@silvia.Berkeley.EDU 
   
  : Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust