Ground Pork, Zucchini, and Goat Cheese Enchiladas

Summer is trying to stick around. It’s been in the upper 80ºs the past few days, and honestly, I’m totally okay with it. It meant that yesterday we could keep the windows wide open all day, and while it was warm, the air was kind of sweet as only fall can bring. If I don’t make any sense, that’s nothing new. I took advantage of the nice weather to prepare the only burgers I made on the grill this summer. I topped them with sharp white cheddar, black pepper encrusted bacon, and a heap of sauteed mushrooms. Grilled zucchini on the side? Gladly.

I don’t think I’ve ever taken advantage of zucchini season as much as I have this summer.

Or goat cheese.

I’ll spare you another post dedicated to it.

Have you checked out Sprouted Kitchen? Sara creates easy, flavorful meals on the regular, and her enchiladas were my inspiration for the ones I made. I substituted ground pork for the black beans, and increased the amount of red onion since I sauteed it with the zucchini. I used green enchilada sauce instead of red. Basically I took the idea of zucchini and goat cheese in an enchilada and ran with it. Shocking, I know.

While I love a hearty, cheesy, ooey, gooey enchilada or four as much as the next girl, there is something really refreshing about a light spread of goat cheese on the inside. There are dollops on the outside, too, but it’s definitely lighter. It was a nice change. Seeing blue corn tortillas in it also made a difference visually. Blue tortillas, green sauce, sauteed zucchini and ground pork. It was quite the look. The taste, though, was phenomenal. Because it wasn’t doused in grease cheese, they had crispy edges and soft middles. The pork wasn’t an in-your-face flavor. It was more of a filler, a protein filler. Looking back, I could have definitely used ground chicken to take the lightness even further, or y’know stuck with the beans.

Inspiration: Sprouted Kitchen

Ingredients

• 10 small corn tortillas, about 6″ in diameter
• 2 small zucchini, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning
• 1/2lb ground pork
• 4oz goat cheese [I didn’t use all of it, more like half, but I would rather have too much than not enough]
• 12oz can green enchilada sauce

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425º, and get out an 11×7 baking dish. I sprayed mine with olive oil [or cooking spray] and it didn’t stick at all. Win!

In a large skillet heated to medium high, brown the ground pork until it’s mostly cooked through. While the pork cooks, toss the zucchini and red onion in a lemon pepper seasoning. If you don’t have it, salt and pepper works just fine. When the ground pork is almost done, add the zucchini and red onion.

Stir, coating thoroughly with the juices from the browned pork. As the zucchini cooks and softens, prepare a station to create your enchiladas. Having that ready helps a lot. When the zucchini and onion is soft and starting to caramelize a bit, remove from heat. While it cools off so you can actually touch it and not burn your hands, pour half of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Make sure you coat the whole thing.

I toasted my tortillas over my gas burners on the stove. You can use a pan as well. The crisp/char that results really makes the tortilla more stable to roll up the enchiladas. Once the tortillas are done, hold one in your hand, and using a butter knife, spread a thin layer of goat cheese over the bottom in a line. Top with the pork filling, and roll up. You’ll find out really quickly how much filling you can put in them. Place them seam side down in the baking dish. If you want, secure them with toothpicks. I didn’t. I kind of wish I did now, so now I’m passing that knowledge onto you.

Continue this process with all of the remaining tortillas. If you have left over filling, put it on top of the prepared enchiladas. Think of it as a crumble topping, only y’know, savory. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top, and use small dollops of goat cheese to cover the enchiladas.

Place the enchiladas in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The edges to the tortillas should be crisp, and the sauce thick and bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.