Mexican Lasagna

This recipe came from Eva Longoria's cookbook Eva's Kitchen. I am a big fan of this tiny little person, so when the book came out and she had a signing at William-Sonoma, JJ and I trekked down to South Coast Plaza to meet her, and yes, she is teeny tiny. Like, pocket size. But she is just as beautiful as you would imagine and she was super nice. She was very sweet with my son, too, and as you can see, he was a bit smitten himself :0)

Anyway, as I waited in line for the signing I had a chance to flip through the book and there are so many yummy looking recipes in here. Eva (I call her Eva because, in my head, we are friends) is from Corpus Christie, Texas so there is a heavy Tex-Mex influence in her recipes, but there is so much more too. I have a feeling I will end up trying all the recipes at one point or another.

This particular recipe seemed very simple, and it was, but it was also delicious. My husband LOVED it. And the best of all, it is a great make ahead meal and it also freezes very well. I actually divided the recipe up into two pans and froze one. I think it would work very well as a meal to take to a potluck or to a friend's house if you are bringing them dinners for some reason. When I was pregnant with my son, I made a bunch of freezer meals so I wouldn't really have to cook after he was born. This recipe would be perfect for that.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray for the cake pans and foil
• 2 pounds ground beef or turkey
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Chicken Broth (page 51) or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth
• 10 flour tortillas
• 1 16-ounce jar Pace Picante Sauce or other store-bought or homemade saucy salsa (Eva's tip: don't use pico de gallo because it is too chunky
• 1 16-ounce package shredded Mexican cheese (you can shred your own if you want, but there is something to be said for the convenience of the Mexican cheese blend, usually Cheddar, Monterey Jack, queso quesadilla, and asadero. Even my friend Eva uses it.)
• 1 8-ounce container sour cream
• 2 4.5-ounce cans chopped green chiles

Directions
1 Preheat the oven to 375°F. Coat two 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray. [Abby's tip: I originally used two square pans, but quickly switched to round because the tortillas fit so nicely in the round ones.]

2 In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the beef, stirring and breaking it up with a spoon, until browned. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3 Pour the chicken broth in a large shallow dish and add the tortillas. Soak about 5 minutes; you want them soft but not mushy. Set aside 1/2 cup salsa and 1 cup cheese.

4 Place one tortilla on the bottom of each cake pan. In each pan, layer as follows: spread about 2 tablespoons of sour cream on top of the tortilla. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons chiles over the sour cream, followed by about 1/2 cup of the browned meat, 2 tablespoons salsa, and 1/3 cup shredded cheese. Top with a tortilla. Repeat to make 3 more layers of filling. Finish with a tortilla on top. (You'll have a stack of 5 tortillas and 4 layers of filling.) Divide the reserved salsa and cheese between the two pans, spreading the salsa to cover the tortilla and sprinkling the cheese to cover the salsa.

5 Spray one side of 2 sheets of aluminum foil with cooking spray and place them oiled-side down over the pans. [Abby's tip: This is where I stuck one in the freezer, but feel free to bake both, I promise it won't go to waste.] Bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling around the edges. Serve hot.

Each pan makes 6 to 8 servings.

The bonus to a recipe like this is that is really adjustable too. I used ground beef because that's what I had, but you could easily substitute ground chicken or turkey. You could change up the cheeses or the salsa, add more of something or less of something, whatever you want.  This also passes the "Leftovers Test" with flying colors.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Happy Cooking!!