Enchiladas del Mar - 199

Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo. See if you can figure out what that saying means and then apply it to my latest cooking experience...

We were having company over last night, so we wanted to fix something a little special. Javier chose this recipe which, desgraciadamente, is not the most lo-cal heart-healthy dish. I agreed to fix these ENCHILADAS DEL MAR because I love this recipe, but decided that I'd have to find a way to locate lo-cal substitutes and/or use lesser amounts of vital ingredients to make it a little less fattening. We didn't want our company to know that we were making a lo-cal version of an old recipe. We wanted them to think that we were loading on the luxuries for their benefit.

This recipe came to us years ago in the form of crabmeat enchiladas. The main ingredients were: flour tortillas, crabmeat (real or fake), mushrooms, butter, cream cheese, and shredded Monterrey Jack cheese. These enchiladas were muy deliciosas (por supuesto) but for last night's menu I knew they needed a big adjustment. I had to get rid of at least half of the calories.

I went shopping and first found some whole wheat, low-carb tortillas. I bought langostinos instead of crabmeat, which is very expensive right now. I found lowfat cream cheese and lowfat Jack cheese to shred as well. As I began cooking the filling, I eliminated the butter and used olive oil instead; I upped the amount of sliced mushrooms and chopped green onions, and cut way back on the amount of cream cheese.

These ENCHILADAS DEL MAR are assembled by placing several spoonfuls of the seafood/mushroom/cream cheese filling (which has also been seasoned with cumin and oregano) into the flour tortilla with 2-3 tablespoons of shredded Jack cheese. I used a slotted spoon so as to leave some of the creamy, langostino flavored sauce in the pan to which I later added a jar of bottled picante sauce. This became the sauce that I ladled over the finished enchiladas before putting them in the oven to heat through. (We used to sprinkle more of the shredded cheese on top, but decided to eliminate that touch as well in the name of fewer calories). I also made brown rice and a guacamole ensalada.

I have to say that the results were pleasing, better than I expected. Our company loved them and asked for seconds. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the meal was the picture taking. We were just about to eat when Javier remembered that we needed the pictures. Therefore, they were done in haste and aren't well-arranged or very clear.