Roasted Summer Vegetable Enchiladas with Homemade Tomatillo Salsa

I don't know quite what I was expecting when I decided to try and make my own Tomatillo sauce. 

For the most part, it was incredibly straightforward, ridiculously easy, and had the added benefit of being absolutely delicious. The only part that really threw me off were the actual tomatillos themselves.

In my mind, tomatillos would look, and taste, how I always imagined them to: like green tomatoes. That's what they look like, and I often like to believe that sometimes, things are just as simple as they seem. 

Incorrect. 

First off, despite being generally familiar with most ingredients, I had absolutely no idea tomatillos came in "husks." 

This threw me for a bit of a loop when I was wandering around the grocery store trying to find what I assumed were just little green tomatoes and I realized that no, actually, I was supposed to be searching for tiny, green, wrinkly pumpkin-lookalikes with removable skin. My bad. 

Not only did they fail to look like the little green tomatoes I'd pictured (at least at first),  they also tasted like nothing I'd anticipated either. 

They're kind of like an underripe tomato, a lime, and some miscellaneous herbs came together to have a beautiful salsa-worthy baby. Or you know, something like that.  

Despite the secret desire to have someone through me a surprise party--One that's never been fulfilled, I would like to point out. Thanks a lot parents--I don't generally like surprises. 

Okay, maybe that's not true. If someone were to walk up to me and go, "Surprise! I baked you this cupcake and bought you a sweater and gassed up your car." I would not complain. 

I guess what I mean is that I don't usually like the unexpected. I generally try to avoid the unexpected. Well, that's not really possible, but, you get the idea.

I like my routines. I like simplicity. I like to plan and I like things to go according to plan. Especially when I'm cooking.

But these little tomatillo fellows (and the enchiladas they helped create) provided one of those rare moments in cooking where the ingredients taste unexpectedly good and everything seems to go, surprisingly, far better than planned.

Roasted Summer Vegetable Enchiladas with Homemade Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillo Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

8-10 medium tomatillos, husked, washed and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, diced, seeds removed

½ cup water or vegetable stock

1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Juice of ½ a lime

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add next 8 ingredients (tomatillos through pepper). Bring to a boil. Reduce to medium-low heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until sauce has begun to thicken, stirring occasionally. Add cilantro and lime, remove from heat, and set aside.

Enchiladas:

Serves 6 (makes about 12 enchiladas)

2 medium yellow squash, sliced or chopped

2 medium zucchini, sliced or chopped

3-4 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

1 small can diced green chiles (4oz)

olive oil

salt and pepper

12 corn tortillas

8-10 oz Jack cheese, shredded

8-10 oz Cotija or Queso Fresco Cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 450.

Combine squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and green chiles in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

Coat two large pans with nonstick spray or olive oil. Spread vegetables evenly so they lay flat against the pan. Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring vegetables once about halfway through. They should look tender and slightly browned.

Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350.

Spoon a small portion of the tomatillo sauce into a 9x13 or similarly sized baking dish, enough to lightly coat the bottom.

Take the tortillas and dip them, one at a time, into the tomatillo sauce to soften them. Place a large spoonful of the roasted vegetables along the center of each tortilla and sprinkle with both types of cheese. Roll up the tortilla and place, seam side down, into the baking dish. Repeat with each tortilla, leaving enough cheese aside to sprinkle on top later.

Pour remaining tomatillo sauce on top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.