Building Up the Base Flavor for the Red Sauce

I'm making my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole, and I want to start by building up some of the base flavor for the red sauce. I've got some tomato paste just waiting to be used. If you end up with tomato paste left over, do what I do - put it in a plastic bag and flatten it out, then put it in the freezer so you can use it next time you make a soup or red sauce. This way, you won't waste the whole can. Now, I'll just get a couple of tablespoons from my can and stir them into my onions. I started with just a little bit of olive oil, some onions, and salt to help bring out their natural sweetness. It's okay to crank up the heat on the pan now; that way, everything will be nice and caramelized.

As I add more ingredients to the pan, I'll also mince up some garlic and throw it in with my yellow and green bell pepper halves. This is where things are starting to get interesting - the combination of those three ingredients will create a depth of flavor that's just fantastic. And then, because we're making beef enchiladas, I'll add a pound and a half of ground beef to the pan. You can definitely make this dish with chicken or turkey if you prefer; whatever you like is fine with me.

Now, I know I have some onion powder in my pantry that's just begging to be used. It has a more intense flavor than regular onions, so I'll add a little bit of that too. And because we're making a Latin-inspired dish, I always have packets of Sazon on hand - it adds a lot of color and goodness to the pot. With one full packet in there, this is starting to smell like a real meal! Next, I'll sprinkle some cumin over both the beef side and the sauce; just enough to give everything a nice boost without overpowering the other flavors.

As everything cooks down, I want to make sure I'm getting all of those flavors out. So, before adding in any broth or stock, let's take a taste. The result is pretty much what I expected - we've got onions and garlic sweating away, some nice beef flavor going on, and that Sazon adding its magic touch. With just a pinch of salt to round things off, this sauce is looking like it could be the star of the show.

Now, let's not forget about the red sauce itself! I'll get my little can of whole tomatoes ready by seeding them and chopping them down into manageable pieces. This will make it easy to add them to the beefy part of the enchilada casserole later on. Before adding any broth or stock, though, I want to taste this again - the flavor should be similar to what we had in the pan earlier, but now with a richer, more intense tomato flavor.

Before assembling our enchiladas, let's get some corn tortillas ready. I like to overlap them slightly as they cook on the griddle, which makes them nice and pliable when it's time to fill them up. Next, we'll add our beef mixture - I'll use about half of the pound, leaving enough for another layer later. But now, let's talk cheese! We need some cheddar and Monterey Jack to give this dish that oozy, cheesy goodness.

Finally, I want to make sure my oven is at a good temperature for baking this casserole. I've set it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and I expect it to take about 30-35 minutes to come out perfectly golden brown on top. That's when we'll know that all of our hard work has paid off - layer upon layer of flavor, topped with a rich, cheesy sauce. And the best part? It was made using simple ingredients like onions, garlic, and tomato paste, which just happen to be staples in any well-stocked kitchen.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign I'm making my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole I'm gonna start building up some of the base flavor for the red sauce for my enchiladas I got some tomato paste just gonna get a couple of tablespoons in out of my can here if you end up with tomato paste left over do what I do just put it in a plastic bag and flatten it out and put it in the freezer so the next time you make a soup or a red sauce or your easy beefy cheesy enchilada you can just kind of break off a piece like a brick a lot simpler and then you don't waste stuff the whole can all right so now I'm going to stir this into my onions remember I started with just a little bit of olive oil some onions and some salt so they could sweat out it's okay to kind of jack up the heat on that right now all right now in this pan right here remember I got my onions in I minced up some garlic put that in there as well with my yellow and my green bell pepper halves to that I'm going to add some ground beef a pound and a half it's going to go in because we're making beef enchiladas you can do chicken I don't know you could do turkey if you like any kind of enchiladas as you want to make are just fine with me a little onion powder goes in here I know I have onions in here but the powder it just has like a more deeper intense flavor and then I'm going to put some cumin in to both of my pans both in the beef side and in my sauce don't go too far sprinkle it around but you know what I'm going to add right now is something that I always have in my pantry good for Spanish and Latin meals is kind of like the bouillon Cube or packets of Latin cooking and that's Sazon let me tell you so much stuff is in here we've got some color going on with the achiote saffron they're cilantro in here just a lot of goodness that's kind of like it just can't get anywhere else so it's good to put one full packet in I'm just going to make this nice and brown get some color on my ground beef here before I add in some of the beef broth of course if you're doing chicken you can add chicken broth you can add veggie broth if you want but I like to kind of get all the flavors in there I'm gonna get my little can ready to go for my red sauce of my whole tomatoes really quick I'm getting in my Aroma Tomatoes just went ahead and seeded them and I'm getting them chopped down to size into the beefy part of my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole I'm gonna make here all right now on my red sauce side here I'm going to go ahead and give this a taste before I add my beef stock but it started pretty much the same as I did the beefy side just a little bit of salt I start with some onions some garlic sweating them down then I added some tomato paste and cooked it down to it was nice and golden deep reddish brown that's just going to really help with the depth of flavor here and of course a whole can of peeled tomatoes with their juices a little bit of broth over the top at the end here to kind of loosen it up and this is going to be perfect right down in your 13 by nine get a nice big old Ladle of the sauce that just move it around make sure it completely covers everything then I've got my corn tortillas here overlap them a little bit and then keep on moving down and now right on top of this layer I'm going to go ahead and put some of the beef see just like layering up just like layering up right over the top now don't use all the beef just about half of it I'm going to make two layers of meat three layers of tortilla and in between the layers of meat and tortilla I'm gonna throw on some cheddar cheese and some Monterey Jack cheese nice and Oozy and cheesy easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole foreign nice healthy sprinkle of cheddar cheese over the top here for my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole gonna get it right into my oven 350 degrees for about I say 30 35 minutes layer upon layer of flavor there at the bottom we've got the sauce that I made homemade sauce it's a good thing to doforeign I'm making my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole I'm gonna start building up some of the base flavor for the red sauce for my enchiladas I got some tomato paste just gonna get a couple of tablespoons in out of my can here if you end up with tomato paste left over do what I do just put it in a plastic bag and flatten it out and put it in the freezer so the next time you make a soup or a red sauce or your easy beefy cheesy enchilada you can just kind of break off a piece like a brick a lot simpler and then you don't waste stuff the whole can all right so now I'm going to stir this into my onions remember I started with just a little bit of olive oil some onions and some salt so they could sweat out it's okay to kind of jack up the heat on that right now all right now in this pan right here remember I got my onions in I minced up some garlic put that in there as well with my yellow and my green bell pepper halves to that I'm going to add some ground beef a pound and a half it's going to go in because we're making beef enchiladas you can do chicken I don't know you could do turkey if you like any kind of enchiladas as you want to make are just fine with me a little onion powder goes in here I know I have onions in here but the powder it just has like a more deeper intense flavor and then I'm going to put some cumin in to both of my pans both in the beef side and in my sauce don't go too far sprinkle it around but you know what I'm going to add right now is something that I always have in my pantry good for Spanish and Latin meals is kind of like the bouillon Cube or packets of Latin cooking and that's Sazon let me tell you so much stuff is in here we've got some color going on with the achiote saffron they're cilantro in here just a lot of goodness that's kind of like it just can't get anywhere else so it's good to put one full packet in I'm just going to make this nice and brown get some color on my ground beef here before I add in some of the beef broth of course if you're doing chicken you can add chicken broth you can add veggie broth if you want but I like to kind of get all the flavors in there I'm gonna get my little can ready to go for my red sauce of my whole tomatoes really quick I'm getting in my Aroma Tomatoes just went ahead and seeded them and I'm getting them chopped down to size into the beefy part of my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole I'm gonna make here all right now on my red sauce side here I'm going to go ahead and give this a taste before I add my beef stock but it started pretty much the same as I did the beefy side just a little bit of salt I start with some onions some garlic sweating them down then I added some tomato paste and cooked it down to it was nice and golden deep reddish brown that's just going to really help with the depth of flavor here and of course a whole can of peeled tomatoes with their juices a little bit of broth over the top at the end here to kind of loosen it up and this is going to be perfect right down in your 13 by nine get a nice big old Ladle of the sauce that just move it around make sure it completely covers everything then I've got my corn tortillas here overlap them a little bit and then keep on moving down and now right on top of this layer I'm going to go ahead and put some of the beef see just like layering up just like layering up right over the top now don't use all the beef just about half of it I'm going to make two layers of meat three layers of tortilla and in between the layers of meat and tortilla I'm gonna throw on some cheddar cheese and some Monterey Jack cheese nice and Oozy and cheesy easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole foreign nice healthy sprinkle of cheddar cheese over the top here for my easy beefy cheesy enchilada casserole gonna get it right into my oven 350 degrees for about I say 30 35 minutes layer upon layer of flavor there at the bottom we've got the sauce that I made homemade sauce it's a good thing to do\n"