Having failed last time at making enchiladas, it being my actual first time, I was ready to try once again. It's not that the failed enchiladas tasted awful. In fact, they were delicious. But they were not exactly enchiladas - soft little pillows filled with oozy veges, chicken, and whatever pleases you. Mine were more like a rolled up baked tacos. Not beautifully moist and not a amalgamated by way of cheese piece of savoriness as enchiladas should be. I know what I did wrong though. I didn't dip my tortilla into the enchilada sauce before rolling em up. Ok ok, so I was being lazy. I thought I would skip a step. But I got screwed.
So this time around I promised not to skip that step and even vowed to make a more moist filling. After looking up a bunch of recipes, all of which pretty much said the same thing, I decided to make Chicken Enchiladas using Tyler Florence's recipe as the basis:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
5 whole green chilies, canned
4 chipotle chilies, canned
1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 cup Cheddar and Jack Cheeses, shredded
16 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
Garnish: chopped cilantro, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes
I seasoned the chicken breasts with a mixture of cumin, chili powder, cayenne, s&p, and cooked it in a pan then let them cool. Sauteed the onion, garlic, poblano in the chicken drippings then added the corn, chopped canned jalapenos and stewed tomato. Shredded the chicken then added to the tomato vege mix.
That's pretty much it! I popped open the can of enchilada sauce then it was time for assembly. I dipped each tortilla (I used flour) into the heated enchilada sauce to make them pliable and moistened up, filled it the chicken mixture then laid them into a baking dish. I poured the remaining enchilada sauce all over the tortilla rolls then topped it with a shredded cheese mixture and baked it off.
Ohh, my kitchen smelled so good! I served the chicken enchiladas with spanish rice, refried beans, fresh guacamole, a sprinkling of chopped onion and cilantro leaves. My mexican food cooking skills may need cauldrons of practice but these enchiladas will keep me happy for now.
5 comments:
mmm, enchiladas!!!! i used to make crap enchiladas too, but my bastard ex actually taught me a trick back in the day...dip the tortillas in the sauce and fry them up in some oil, then roll them up. makes a huge splattery mess, but they're so good!
holy crap, that's craziness! it sounds so good though. :) making enchiladas is already messy imo, dip & roll and get my hands and cutting board dirty.
I. Want. Now.
Hey- what brand of enchilada sauce did you use? I bought one can ONCE and didn't like it....
hmm... i'm not quite sure about the brand of the sauce. las palmas?? lol, is that a city? i'll check next time i'm at the market.
Thank you for the idea of dipping the tortilla in sauce instead of frying them. it worked great! I also used the las palmas green chili enchilada sauce.
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