Mexican Casserole #1 - 179

Sooner or later I knew that I'd have to confront the fact that I grew up in Southern California, and I grew up eating Mexican recipes that had been adjusted to appeal to north-of-the-border tastes. This might not be the appropriate forum for launching into a discussion of my mother's attempts to create "interesting and diverse" meals in our home. However, no discussion on this topic would be complete without a sidebar discussion on the ever-popular Mexican casserole that was served in hundreds of permutations during my childhood. My mother was responsible for about 5% of them, and they had names like Enchilada Casserole and Tamale Pie.

BUT - today's recipe came to me through my friend Mindy. When I was 17 years old, I had returned from an extended stay in Mexico and was invited to her home for dinner. In "honor" of my stay in Mexico, Mindy's mother served a Mexican casserole with salad and bread on the side. I have always remembered this delicious casserole and her mother's way of saying "welcome home." Mindy's mother, Suzanne, got this recipe from the Pasadena Prefers (1965) cookbook.

Mindy sent me the recipe when I started this porject. It is a combination of simple ingredients: ground beef, tomatoes, tortillas, green chiles, cheese and seasonings. Javier and I made one major adjustment to the recipe: we used LEAN ground turkey rather than ground beef because that's what we had on hand. It was still delicious, and Javier - the real Mexican in the family - gave it a 10 on a scale of 10. When I asked him if he thought any Mexican would enjoy eating this kind of casserole, he said - yes, of course. I also thought it was quite spicy, and not bland like some Mexican-style casseroles.

We ate the casserole with some guacamole on top of each serving. It is easy to cut it into squares and serve it out of the casserole dish in the same way you'd serve lasagne.

By the way, if you have a great recipe for a Mexican casserole, please send it along. I'd love to try several others during this project, and I'll give your recipe a plug.