Baja Lasagna

If there are any cooks out there who recoil in horror when they come across a recipe that deviates from the standard preparation of a classic dish, please look away now because we're making Baja Lasagna today. "Baja Lasagna? What the...?!" Ah, Baja Lasagna! Yes folks, it's a perversion of the classic Italian dish, Lasagna, except in this version we use flour tortillas instead of lasagna noodles along with a couple of other deviations from the norm. Sounds like big fun, right? Let's get cookin!

Ingredinets:
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
2 Avocados; peeled, pitted & chopped coarse

2 TBS fresh Cilanto leaves, diced
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 Vidalia or Spanish Onion, diced
1 tsp Cider Vinegar
1 TBS Frank's Red Hot Sauce
2 TBS cheap Tequila
1 1/2 lbs ground Chorizo Sausage meat
1 can diced Tomatoes (16 oz)
1 small can sliced Black Olives (drained)
1 small can diced Green Chiles
2 TBS Chicken Stock or Broth
2 TBS Yellow Corn Meal
12 Flour Tortillas
2 1/2 cup shredded Pepperjack Cheese
Butter for greasing the baking dish
Dry Spice Mix:
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1.4 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Paprika
Cooking Procedure:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dry spice mix
Mix well & set aside
Place the chopped avocado in a food processer
Process until the avocado is pureed
Add the ricotta cheese, the fresh cilantro & 1/2 cup of the shredded Pepperjack cheese
Process for another 45 seconds
Set this ricotta cheese mixture aside
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat for45 seconds
Add the onion & the dry spice mix
Stir well & cook the onions down until they begin to wilt & turn clear
Add the Cider Vinegar, Frank's Red Hot Sauce & cheap Tequila
Stir well & scrape the bottom of the skillet
Reduce heat to medium
Add the chorizo sausage meat
Stir this from time to time as it cooks, breaking up any lumps in the meat
Once the sausage has browned slightly & rendered some of its fat, add the tomatoes, olives, green chiles & chicken stock
Stir well & let this cook down for 10 minutes
Sprinkle in the corn meal
Stir well & reduce heat to low
Cook this sausage tomato mixture for 20 minutes, stirring well from time to time
While this is cookling, take the flour tortillas & trim all of the round edges off to make them into square shapes
Grease a deep pyrex baking dish with a little softened butter
Line the bottom of the baking dish with 6 of the squared tortillas
Using a spatula, spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture over the tortillas
Spoon 1/2 of the sausage tomato mix on top of the this
Add another layer of the squared tortillas
Add the remaining ricotta cheese mixture
Add the remaining sausage tomato mixture
Evenly spread the remaining shredded cheese across the top of the lasagna
Place the lasagna in the oven & bake for 30 minutes
The top of the lasagna should be lightly browned
Let lasagna rest for 10 minutes before cutting portions & serving

Learn more about this author, J.P. Gelinas.
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