Tortilla lasagna

As I drove home from the office the other day, I was trying to think of something to make for dinner, which wouldn’t involve my going to the store. 

I had a little of this and a little of that, but the ‘this’ didn’t normally go with the ‘that’. I still had some leftover meat sauce from Saturday’s pasta dinner. I had some thinly sliced beef steaks I bought at the Mexican grocery, along with three thick flour tortillas. When I thought of it that way, I figured why not put them together. 

While this is an unusual combination, it came out tasting great. Here’s what I did.

1/2 lb. of thin sliced beef steaks, coarsely chopped

Olive oil

1 medium chile manzano, or a small bell pepper, chopped

1 large shallot, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

Adobo seasoning

2 cups of leftover pasta sauce

Maggi seasoning

Cooking spray

1 cup of shredded Italian Provolone

2 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese

3 thick flour tortillas

Preparation

Heat a large cast iron skillet, and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the chopped beef and spread it out. Let it sizzle until it loses most of its pink color. Sprinkle with some adobo seasoning and add the chopped peppers, shallots and garlic. Stir and let that continue to cook until the peppers have softened. 

Add the pasta sauce and stir. Bring that to a simmer and let it cook to reduce for about five minutes. Give it a few shakes of Maggi seasoning and stir. Let it simmer another minute, and turn off the heat.

Spray a medium cast iron pan with some cooking spray (Pam). Set a flour tortilla on the bottom of the pan, and cover it with the Provolone cheese. Spoon on a little of the sauce, and cover with another tortilla. Add about half a cup of the Mozzarella cheese, and then dump most of the sauce over it. Top with the last tortilla, all the remaining cheese and the rest of the sauce. 

Bake at 380º for about twenty minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling. Let it cool for five minutes, and then set it on a serving plate.

Serving

I had my tortilla lasagna with a huge tossed salad, some homemade bread, and a bottle of Merlot. Don’t bother asking about the leftovers. They seem to have vanished.