Tex-Mex Gooey Casserole

Am I doing better? I'm trying not to make it 2 weeks again before you see another post from me :)

As I browsed for recipes one day involving stew meat (they had it on sale at H.E.B.), I was surprised to find this recipe for Tex-Mex Gooey Casserole. I just was not expecting to find anything Tex-Mex when I started searching for stew meat recipes. Now, as you look at this recipe, you'll notice that, unless you were out say...chopping trees all day, there's really no health value in this recipe. That said, I still thought it looked good. Plus, I don't make a lot of Emeril's recipes, so I thought this would be fun to try.

Ingredients

Yield 6 servings (Krista Kooks was able to make 8-10 servings from this recipe)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 pound ground beef (Krista Kooks used Ground Turkey)
1 pound diced stew meat
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste (Read this on Tomato Paste)
4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
3 cups beef stock
10 flour tortillas
2 cups grated Medium Cheddar cheese
2 cups grated Monterrey Jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9 by 2-inch square baking dish. In a large skillet, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ground beef and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the diced meat and continue to cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato paste. Stir in the tomatoes and stock. Simmer the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of the chili mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay two tortillas on top of the chili mixture. Sprinkle the top of the tortillas with the Cheddar and Jack cheese. Repeat the layering process until all of the chili, tortillas and cheese are used. (The final layer should be cheese) Place the pan in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before slicing.

Ooeey gooey goodness!

This was one of those recipes that was great as leftovers, that's for sure. Also, I didn't read the comments on this recipe before making it, but it definitely taught me to read the comments before making a recipe, if comments are available. A lot of people suggested using corn tortillas instead of flour; I can definitely see that being tasty, but I liked it just fine with flour. The reason for wanting corn tortillas has a lot to do with the meat mixture being soupy;flour tortillas soak up that juice a lot quicker making the casserole soggy. Well, I saw that one coming while making the recipe, so I strained the meat mixture as I spooned the mixture into the pan. Thus, our casserole wasn't soggy. Also, my sous chef and I didn't think this mixture was very "Tex-Mex" as there wasn't the same sort of spice as you would expect from tex mex. I think some red chili pepper flakes or fresh jalepenos or something should be added to the meat mixture.

Otherwise, this is a yummy and tasty family recipe!