Shrimp Enchiladas

I had my eye on these shrimp enchiladas for a long time (a couple years at least), but just finally got around to making them. They are out of this world if shrimp is your thing. We ate off this pan for 3 days, and I was so sad to see them go. This is not light fare, nor is it a necessarily quick meal, but it's worth every minute and extra calorie (and is really perfect with a Corona and lime). I think this would be a fun Christmas Eve meal.

Shrimp Enchiladas

-adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Cheese Sauce:

• ½ cup sweet red pepper, chopped
• ½ cup onion, minced
• ½ cup green pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I realized as I was making these that I was out of cayenne. So we had none. They need a little kick, so I used all pepper jack cheese).
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 ½ cups Monterey Jack cheese or Pepper Jack cheese
• ½ cup sour cream

Shrimp Mixture:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 ½ pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped into bite-size pieces
• ½ cup onion, chopped
• 2 cups ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ½ cups Monterey Jack cheese or Pepper Jack cheese
• 8 (9-inch) flour tortillas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch dish and set aside.

Saute red pepper, onion and green pepper in 1/4 cup butter until crisp-tender. Add oregano, salt, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, and flour; blend well and cook, stirring constantly for about a minute. Whisk in the cream and continue cooking for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese; stir until melted. Add sour cream, stir to blend. Set aside.

In another skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute shrimp and 1/2 cup onion until shrimp are pink--OR--do what I did. I bought my usual frozen shrimp and just boiled them quickly to cook them, chopped 'em up and continued with the recipe. I also think you could use already cooked shrimp, just make sure not to cook them anymore before you put them in the filling so they aren't tough. Add chopped tomatoes and 1/2 of the cheese sauce. Spoon 1/3 cup shrimp mixture into each tortilla. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top of shrimp mixture. Roll the enchiladas up tightly. Arrange seam side down in a 9X13-inch glass baking dish. Spoon remaining cheese sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Cheese sauce, anyone? 

Oh how I love those crispy tortillas smothered in that sauce

Rich and wonderful. One enchilada is really enough.