Old Bear's Recipe of the Month July 1997 Enchiladas Verdes Back in the late 1960s, the Campbell Soup Company approached over seventy well-known restaurants throughout the United States with the objective of seeing how their master chefs might consider using Campbell Soup products in adaptations of signature recipes. The results were published in "Campbell's Great Restaurants, USA Cookbook." While the use of canned soups sounds strange in the context of fine cooking, the chefs did an excellent job of coming up with a number of interesting and impressive recipes. This recipe for cheese enchiladas with a green sauce was the creation of Seņor Pico, a popular Mexican restaurant then located in Century City and at Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco. It is reproduced below as it appears in the cookbook, but with some additional notes based on my experience with this recipe over the years: For the enchilladas: 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 Tbsp butter or margarine 2 cups cottage cheese 1 lb white Cheddar cheese, shredded 1/4 cup crushed tostadas (tortilla chips, taco shells, etc) 2 Tbsps chopped stuffed olives 2 Tbsps chopped jalapeņo chiles 1 tsp salt 1 tsp MSG 12 corn tortillas Cook onion in butter until tender. In a large bowl, combine onion, cheeses, tostadas, olives, chiles, and seasonings. Fry tortillas in hot oil until soft and pliable but not crisp. Drain; center cheese filling on each tortilla and roll. Place in greased baking dish, seam side down. Add green enchilla sauce (see below). For the green enchillada sauce: 1 can condensed chicken broth (10-1/2 oz) 1 cup snipped spinach leaves 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup (10-1/2 oz each) 1 can Ortega chiles (3-1/2 oz) 1 large onion, diced 1 clove garlic, sliced 1 tsp MSG 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp flour 1/2 pint sour cream Comnbine the chicken broth and spinach in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into saucepan. Blend cream of mushroom soup, chiles, onion, and garlic until smooth; add to spinach mixture. Stir in MSG and salt. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Thicken sauce with flour mixed with a little water. Pour over the cheese enchillas (above). Bake in a pre-heated 350 °F oven for 20 minutes. Top with sour cream before serving. Some notes from the Old Bear: Since this recipe first appears in print in the late 1960s, our taste for salt has decreased and our enjoyment of spicey foods has increased. As a result, today I would not prepare this recipe exactly as shown above. Because the canned soups (even the low sodium varieties) contain sufficient salt for taste, I would not add the additional salt called for in the recipe. Instead, I would adjust the flavor of the green sauce by slightly increasing the use of the chopped jalapeņo chiles or supplementing the jalapeņos with a dash of prepared habaņero sauce. While the recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom soup, virtually any of the canned condensed cream soups will work. I actually prefer the Cream of Chicken. The Campbell "Heathy Request" soups work fine, but their "low-sodium" soups are not recommended because they are not condensed and hence do not provide the consistency which this sauce requires. The original recipe calls for corn tortillas, which are generally smaller and, because they are brittle, need to be softened in hot oil so that they can be rolled around the filling. The corn tortillas have a wonderful flavor, but this recipe will also work with larger flour tortillas -- which are soft enough to roll without any preparation and which sometimes can be found in interesting varaiations such as spinach (green) or tomato (red) as well as the usual white. The type of tortilla you use will significantly alter the appearance of the dish. All of them are good. I have successfully varied this recipe by using different combinations of cheeses other than just the Cheddar. And also I have added diced cooked chicken or turkey to the filling. An interesting improvisation worth trying is a substitue for sour cream topping made by blending of about two parts skim-milk ricotta cheese and one part non-fat yogurt, seasoned with some green Tobasco jalapeņo sauce. The ratio of ricotta to yogurt should be adjusted to produce a topping with a pleasingly cream consistency. These enchillas are very good served with a Mexican-style rice. You can concoct your own rice with red beans or pinto beans added, or you can take advantage of the convenience of one of the excellent Goya-brand mixes such as their "Arroz con Frijoles Pintos."