Creamy Avocado, Bell Pepper and Hatch Chile Enchiladas

A rich vegetarian dish, these avocado, bell pepper, and caramelized onion enchiladas are spiced with roasted Hatch chiles and covered in plenty of cheese.

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My New Years Resolution to add more avocados to my life continues.  [Ya think, since I've posted 2 avocado appetizers in the past month or so?] Since we like enchiladas I wondered about using avocado as the filling for a vegetarian dish.  Low fat or skinny this is not--it is rich!  Instead of a tomato-based enchilada sauce like I've used most recently in Confetti Turkey Enchiladas, or a tomatillo-based salsa verde, like in my Fish Taco Enchiladas, I made a spicy white sauce with Hatch chiles. 

Simon and I walked down to fetch freshly roasted Hatch chiles last summer.

In this dish I used bell peppers from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share plus roasted Hatch chiles from my local grocery store.  Both of these peppers can be frozen when they are harvested and thawed for using in baked dishes like I've shown here.  It's another way I feed my family local foods all year long. The caramelized onions are also freezer-friendly flavor boosters. I use both Dorothy's Slow Cooker Method or Alanna's Flavorful Slow Cooker Onions.

This is an involved dish, with multiple steps, so I'll skip any further chitchat and get to the chopper recipe.

Wait--one note--next week I'll share my recipe for the Cheater Margarita Smoothies shown in several of the photos. I rarely suggest wine pairings with my recipes, but I can say with confidence that a Cheater Margarita Smoothie--or two--goes well with these enchiladas.

Another note--if you want to boost the structure of these enchiladas, feel free to add 1 or 2 cups of cooked grains (rice, faro, quinoa, etc) to the vegetable filling. We ate ours with rice on the side.

For more enchilada ideas, vegetarian or with fish, chicken, or pork--hey, no beef, yet, huh--please enjoy my newest Clickable Collage of Recipe Suggestions below.  As always, Anyonita taught me this party trick via this tutorial.

Click on the top 6 photos to be taken to the recipe, the bottom row are "coming soon"!

For more recipes using Avocados, please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For more recipes using Hatch chiles, please see my Hatch chile Recipes Collection. For more recipes using bell peppers, please see my Pepper Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.


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Creamy Avocado, Bell Pepper, Caramelized Onion and Hatch Chile Enchiladas                     (this recipe came out of my brain--except for the basic white sauce which came from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook--Amazon Affiliate link)

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1½ teaspoons salt, divided (I use kosher)
• 2 Tablespoons salsa verde
• 1-3 Tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 cup chopped bell peppers
• 1 cup caramelized onions (if you only have raw onions, cook them alongside the peppers)
• 4 cloves roasted garlic
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 cups stock (vegetable, chicken, or beef, whatever is on hand)
• ¼ cup roasted Hatch chiles (or a little 4.5 oz can of green chiles)
• 8 ounces crema or sour cream
• 12 flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded cheddar (or monterey jack, or colby jack, all will work) cheese
• serving garnishes: fresh cilantro, additional crema, and additional salsa verde

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  You'll need a 13x9 inch pan in a little while, and your clean up will be easier if you spray it with a vegetable oil spray.
2. In a large bowl, mash and stir the avocado with the cream cheese, ½ teaspoon salt, and salsa verde.  Set aside.  
3. In a large skillet, preheat cooking oil over medium heat and sauté bell pepper until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in caramelized onions, garlic, and another ½ teaspoon salt. Remove from heat.  
4. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Stir in flour and cook until browned, 8-10 minutes, then add stock and another ½ teaspoon salt.  Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally until thickened into sauce, 8-10 minutes.  Turn off heat and stir in Hatch chiles and crema or sour cream. This is your white sauce.
5. To assemble the enchiladas, dump the sautéed vegetables from the skillet into the avocado mixture and combine.  This is your vegetable filling.
6. Place ½ cup of white sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. 
7. Spread about ⅓ to ½ cup of the vegetable filling down the center of a tortilla, roll it up, and place it in the pan.  Repeat until you've run out of tortillas, filling, or room in the pan.  Pour the sauce over top of the rolled tortillas, then top with cheese.
8. At this point the dish can be covered and will hold for several hours in the refrigerator if necessary.
9. Bake, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is melted, and the edges of tortilla peeking up through the sauce are crispy. 
10. If you're out of soft tortillas this would also be a good dip to dig in with chips.

Delicious served with rice and topped with additional crema and salsa verde

Since this food is perfect for a fiesta, this post is shared with Fiesta Friday, the From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays,  Fresh Foods Wednesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday, and featured on Lori's Culinary Creations