Layered Tortilla-Tomato Casserole/Tamal Azteca

Delicious Mexican-style vegetarian lasagna.

Like most lasagnas, there are several components to be prepared before final assembly and baking: essential quick-cooked tomato-chipotle sauce; steamed chard, zucchini and defrosted corn; fried corn tortillas; shredded Chihuahua cheese.

I halved all of the ingredients except the chard as I decided to include the stems as well as the leaves and assembled them in a deep dish 9” pie plate. The recipe calls for the tortillas to be flash fried so that they don’t dissolve into the sauce during baking. I wasn’t too happy about doing this as they absorbed a fair bit of the oil in the process and up to that point not much fat had been added to the dish “ the cheese was going to be the main source.

The casserole looked a little dry after baking but wasn’t in reality as the tortillas ended up absorbing a lot of the liquid. The 2 layers closest to the bottom, also closest to the chard and zucchini, disintegrated; the top 2 layers retained their integrity. So the frying didn’t work that well….

Despite all of this, it was really very tasty. There was a wonderful balance of juicy greens, sweet corn, spicy sauce and gooey cheese with the flavour of the corn tortilla in every bite. It looked Italian but there was no mistaking those Mexican flavours. If I can find another way to prepare the tortillas, I’ll definitely make it again.

I found that a half recipe serves 5-6. (not 4)