Mexican Lasagna

So I was making a batch of my enchiladas one night and the thought hit me... is there something else I could do with these ingredients?  And then it came to me.  Mexican Lasagna!  Layer the tortillas like noodles, substitute the marinara with enchilada sauce, and VIOLA!!

Sure, I could be a pretentious asshat here and say that I was trying to create a fusion between Mexican and Italian cuisines.  But to be completely honest, I wanted an excuse to cram more and more cheese and sauce into every bite of an enchilada.  And by layering the ingredients instead of rolling them into tube, I could add a ton of sauce and cheese in each strata.

You can use any type of tortillas you'd like.  I prefer the flour tortillas that you can cook as home.  But if you want to use corn tortillas instead, by all means, go ahead.  Other ingredients can be added as well.  I like to add some diced onions and sliced olives, but I could see adding tomatoes, corn, maybe even some sour cream on a layer or two.  Do whatever sounds good to you.

Mexican Lasagna

Serves 4-6

Sauce
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 14 ounce cans of low sodium chicken broth
2 6 ounce cans of tomato paste
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
2 cloves garlic, minced

Other ingredients
4-5 ten inch flour tortillas or 15 small corn tortillas
1 1/2 pounds ground beef or shredded chicken breast
1 small onion diced
1 can of medium olives, sliced
3 1/2 cups shredded Mexican style cheese (or just pepper jack)

Optional ingredients
8 ounces sour cream
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
3-4 sliced jalapenos, seed removed

To create the sauce, place a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and the oil and stir.  Allow it to heat up for about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken broth and the tomato paste to the man and mix well.  Add the spices and the garlic cloves.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

While that's simmering, cook your meat and prepare all of your other ingredients.  Place the tortillas over and 8x8" pan and trim off the overlapping tortilla edges.  Spray the pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking layer.  Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to the pan and dip the pan around so it coast the bottom of the pan.

Begin to build the lasagna.  Place one tortilla in the pan and spread enough sauce on top to coat the tortilla.  Add about 1/4 of the meat, cheese and all of the other ingredients.  Pick up another tortilla and coat one side with sauce.  Place that tortilla into the 8x8 pan, sauce side down.  Repeat each step until you reach the last tortilla.  Once it's placed in the pan, pour the remaining sauce over the top of the contents of the pan.  Liberally sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.  Cover in tin foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes.  Finally, remove the pan from the oven and serve while it's still hot.