Monday Meals: One Dish Enchilada Pasta

So allow us to pull back the curtain in the Test Kitchens. We scour cookbooks and Pinterest for recipe ideas; we decide on a recipe that sounds delicious, and we prepare it while taking copious pictures and notes. Simple enough, right? Not always.

This past week we had decided today's Monday Meals post was going to be a cheeseburger skillet meal. We prepared the meal on Saturday night while taking pictures and making notes. The meal was finished; and the best way to describe it was, 'gloopy'. It was a thick mess of noodles, hamburger meat and thick, gluey cheese sauce. Needless to say, it wasn't Cool Dads worthy.

However, the Enchilada Pasta we prepared last week (and of course took no pictures of) was delicious and is now added into our regular recipe rotation. So we're sharing that one instead. Sans pictures, of course. We did include a link to the original recipe if you're visual and need the pictures.

One Dish Enchilada Pasta

2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 of a small onion, diced

1.25 pounds of taco seasoned ground turkey meat or 1.25 pounds of lean ground beef and packet of low-sodium taco seasoning

2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth

1 19oz can of red enchilada sauce

8oz (about 2 1/2 cups) of dried rotini pasta

2 cups of freshly shredded Colby Jack cheese

green onions

black olives

 

Instructions

1. In a large skillet or sauté pan, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil over medium low heat until softened.
2. Add ground turkey meat and cook, breaking meat up with a wooden spoon until browned.
3. Once turkey meat is cooked through, add pasta, chicken broth and enchilada sauce to pan.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduced heat to low and cover.
5. Cook on low, with pan covered for about 15 minutes.
6. Then remove lid and let simmer for additional 5 minutes until pasta is tender and sauce has reduced.
7. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese.
8. Top pasta with additional cup of cheese and melt under broiler for a minute or tow, or place lid back on pan and let heat from the pasta melt the cheese.
9. Garnish with black olives and green onions.

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2013/12/09/one-pan-enchilada-pasta/

 

Notes from the Test Kitchen

 

Is this the most authentic Mexican meal you're ever going to have in your life? Of course not- it's made in one pan! But, if you're looking to avoid the hassle of stuffing enchiladas and you want to get dinner on the table in under an hour- this is your meal.

 

That being said, it's really, really delicious. It has all the spicy, cheesy flavors you'd expect from enchiladas, just without all the work that goes along with it. If you're craving Mexican food, this is the perfect weeknight meal for you and your family.

 

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew