This Mexican Casserole is a family favorite, not just for dinner, but also for dairy buffets: Break-the-Fast for example. Recently I cut a Mexican Casserole into smaller pieces and served it for hors d’ouevre. It’s really very handy!
Mexican Casserole
Servings
4 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- ½-1 teaspoon chopped jalapeño or serrano pepper
- 1 28- ounce can Italian style tomatoes, finely chopped, including the liquid
- 1 15 ounce can rinsed and drained white beans
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups Monterrey Jack and/or cheddar cheese shredded
- 5 corn tortillas
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic and chili pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Mix in the tomatoes, beans, chili powder, cumin and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg and ¾ cup of the Monterrey Jack or cheddar cheese.
- Lightly grease an 8”x8” casserole dish or cake pan.
- Cut one tortilla into quarters. Place 2 tortillas at the bottom of the pan (they will overlap) and use two of the tortilla quarters in the corners that are not covered. Spoon about ⅔ of the vegetable mixture on top. Cover with the ricotta cheese mixture, spreading it over the vegetables. Top with the remaining tortillas, then the remaining vegetable mixture and finally with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake for about 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
The recipe says 8×8 pan, but the one in the picture is rectangle, and putting 2 tortillas in so they will overlap also makes me think rectangle. Please clarify. thx
Regular tomatoes are fine. I’ve even made it with fresh tomatoes. Flavor and consistency slightly different but still delicious
if i dont have Italian styled tomatoes can i use regular canned tomatoes, should i add anything ?
This recipe is a vegetarian taco casserole, there are no meat ingredients. EnJOY
This recipe includes several dairy ingredients in a fleishig recipe – what substitutions do you suggest?
Another thought — did you chop the tomatoes very small?
I am speechless! I have made this a number of times and never had that problem. In fact, I started with a 28 ounce can and it wasnt enough. I am not sure what to say?? The only thing I can think of is that the brand of tomatoes may have had more juices. Just not sure. We have eaten this and loved it so many times. I am so sorry it didn’t work and hope you will try it again, maybe draining the tomatoes??? Btw, it should be soft, though not soupy.
I think I am missing something here. I made this for Shabbat and it was a very soupy mess. Only 5 corn tortillas with 35 ounces of chopped tomatoes? And I used a 28-ounce can of San Marzano so I didn’t use the stated amount. It did not set-up and you had to serve it with a spoon. Unfortunately I didn’t know how to rescue it so we had what we wanted and tossed the rest. Is there a mistake in the amount of tomatoes or too few tortillas???? Thanks for your help.
Cilantro
This recipe looks delicious. Something beautiful and green is on top in the picture. May I ask what it is?