Traditional Chile Colorado is a stew made with beef and red chile sauce.  Even the toughest cuts of beef will become tender when cooked slowly in the sauce for a long period of time.  I don’t always have the luxury of time when I cook, so I find ways to improvise. 

This meal took about an hour and a half to make, which could have been trimmed down to about 45 minutes, if I had used canned enchilada sauce, but I wanted to use my dried Guajillo and New Mexico chile pods for the sauce.

I didn’t record the amounts of the ingredients I used for this dish because I was in a hurry, and I only took photos of the finished product.  That said, this is an easy dish to make, and proportions are easy to figure out, on the fly.

I started by seeding the chilies and then steamed them.  I added a small amount of beef stock to the chile pulp and simmered over medium heat for a few minutes, to thicken.

I pan fried thinly sliced steak over high heat to medium-rare.  After a little chopping, I added the cooked beef to 14” burrito sized tortillas.

I added the rolled burritos to a large skillet and topped them with the sauce.  The burritos baked at 350º for about 15 minutes.  I added some shredded cheese to the top, after arranging the cooked burritos on a serving plate. 

A little salad and Mexican rice completed the deal.