[vegan] Green Enchiladas with Canary Beans

A while back (on St. Patrick's Day, I believe) I posted on facebook about the green enchilada sauce I was making and I got a few requests for the recipe. And I was so darn pleased with how those enchiladas turned out, that I wanted to record what I did. So here we are. It's quite the process, so stick with me. Oh, just wait until you taste these beans. So creamy.

Green Enchiladas with Canary Beans

For the slow-cooked beans:
1 pound dry canary (or mayacopa) beans
1 onion, diced
a few garlic cloves, peeled
1 scant tablespoon kosher salt (less if your chili powder is very salty)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
6 cups water

For the enchilada sauce:
15-20 medium tomatillos (go for the mellow green ones; yellow is not good)
3 medium poblano chiles (halved lengthwise and stems and seeds removed)
1 - 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 - 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
1/4 cup liquid from cooked beans above
salt

For the enchiladas:
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
12 6-inch corn tortillas
beans above (you will not use all of them)
enchilada sauce above (you may not use all of the sauce)
avocado slices and chopped green onions for topping

In the morning, rinse and drain the beans and then place them in the slow cooker. Add the diced onion and garlic and all the spices. Add the water, give it a stir, cover and turn the slow cooker to high. Cook for at least 6 hours or until the beans are nice and soft. You can, of course, cook the beans in a pressure cooker or on the stovetop, changing the cooking time and the amount of liquid as needed.

About 4 in the afternoon, preheat your broiler. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil. Remove the husks and wash and dry your tomatillos. Cut any large tomatillos in half. Toss the poblanos and tomatillos in the vegetable oil and arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheet, cut side down. Broil until the tomatillos are getting shrivelly and brown and the peppers are starting to blacken. Watch them carefully avoid over cooking them. This takes about 5 - 10 minutes. Rotate the pan partway through as needed if your broiler has hotspots. When they're done, pull them out and let them cool for about 10 minutes and then remove those blackened parts of the poblano skins that come off easily. Turn the oven down to 350.

Dump the peppers and tomatillos and their juices into a food processor. Scoop 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from your slow cooker of beans and add it to the food processor. Add your sugar. You may not need this if your tomatillos are nice and ripe and mellow. But you have to just add it to taste. Salt as well. Blend. You can add more liquid it you want it thinner. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your food processor.

Now your sauce and your beans are ready. Get a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and spread about 3/4 cup of your enchilada sauce in the bottom. Before you can roll your enchiladas, you have to warm your tortillas. *Line two baking sheets with your twelve tortillas. Spray them on both sides with cooking spray and bake them for 2 to 4 minutes, until they are soft and roll-able. Remove from oven and then turn the oven up to 450.

Place the tortillas on the counter and fill each one with about 1/3 cup of (drained) beans. Sprinkle with cilantro leaves (if desired) and roll tightly. Place in the baking dish. When all 12 are rolled and in, pour or ladle as much of the remaining sauce over the enchiladas as you want. You may not use all the sauce and your probably won't use all the beans. Make a second pan for the freezer if you want.

Cover with foil and bake about 10 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 5-10 minutes, until the edges of the tortillas start to look crisped.

Serve with sliced green onions and avocado slices.

*You can also warm each tortilla in the microwave for 15 seconds and immediately fill and roll it. If you do this, don't forget to turn your oven up to 450.

Now, let me just say one thing to anyone who is reading this and thinking, "wait, enchiladas without cheese?" I want you to know that I was a little worried about how my kids would respond to cheeseless enchiladas myself. My kids love cheese. And they eat it very regularly, even though Jeremy and I don't. But all my kids ate these enchiladas like they were welcoming a long lost favorite dish back into their lives. They loved them. After the meal, I said to them, "Let me just ask you. At any time while you were eating this, did you have the thought, "these are fine and all, but they'd be better with some cheese on top"?

Every member of my family said no, I never once thought of cheese or wished for it while eating these. And believe me, they weren't just saying that to be nice. Most of my kids don't think of me as someone they have to be nice to about the food I cook.

Recipe Source: adapted heavily from the Cook's Illustrated Enchiladas Verdes recipe (which uses chicken and cheese).