chicken enchiladas
Summary
| Yield | |
|---|---|
| Prep time | 2 hours |
| Kind of Dish | main dishes |
| Dietary Info | |
| Tags | tangy mexican classic |
Description
nice, flavorful enchilada recipe. relatively easy to make too.
Ingredients
| 1 | small chicken (see notes), meat shredded | |
| 1 | Tablespoon | olive oil |
| 1 | Pound | tomatillos, chopped |
| 1 | large onion (or two small ones), preferably white, chopped | |
| 2 | poblano peppers, seeded and chopped | |
| 2 | Clove | garlic, minced |
| 1 | Teaspoon | ground cumin |
| kosher salt | ||
| black pepper | ||
| 1 | Cup | heavy cream (do not f around with half-and-half, do it right) |
| 14 1⁄2 | Ounce | can diced tomatoes, drained (use equiv amt of fresh tomato if avail) |
| 2 | Cup | grated aged jack cheese |
| 1 | Package | 6-inch corn tortillas |
| hot sauce (to taste) |
Instructions
pre-heat oven to 400F. meanwhile, heat the oil in a pot over medium-high heat. add the tomatillos, onion, poblano, garlic, cumin, and about a 1/2 tsp salt. cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender and the tomatillos are more "liquidy", about 15 minutes. take your immersion blender and start blending, slowly pouring in the cream as you do this. you can puree it in a food processor too if you don't have an immersion blender but that's much messier. adjust seasonings as necessary.
in a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken, tomatoes, 1 cup of cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomatillo sauce, and about a 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of black pepper. if you think it needs a little more sauce, pour in a little more, but not too much.
spread some tomatillo sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. you now have two options:
1) warm the tortillas according to package direction to make them more pliable and roll the chicken mixture into each tortilla (ie the proper way)
2) line the pan with a layer of flat tortillas (it's ok if they overlap), dump the chicken mixture evenly on top of that, and then top with a layer of flat tortillas (ie the lazy way)
pick one and do it, then pour the rest of the sauce and the remaining jack cheese on top. you can also put some hot sauce on this if you want a spicier taste -- don't overdo this, you WANT it to be more tangy than hot. place in the oven for 15 minutes et voila, enchiladas.
Notes
roasted chicken recipe is going to follow this one but as noted you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken too. that will cut the timing on the recipe down significantly, but i think it will diminish the flavor/moistness.
if you can't get tomatillos in your area, you can get a jar of high-quality green salsa. the flavor will be a bit different but still good, and you should cook it a little longer in the first step, to evaporate a little of the liquid.
