Chicken enchiladas
Sometime I crave simple casserole-type food. Macaroni and cheese, broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole, chicken enchiladas. Notice that these dishes all have a common component of cheese…melted, gooey, belly-warming cheese. Usually when I crave food like this it’s an indication that I’m stressed and I need to be comforted in every way possible. Yes I know, when you’re stressed you shouldn’t turn to food, or at least that’s what we’re told that by Oprah. But honestly, why wouldn’t you turn to food…it’s an elemental component of comfort and security…that and my favorite pillow, blanket, and hugs from my men can get me through any amount of chaos.
Thus on Friday I knew it was chicken enchiladas that would wipe the memory of the horrid week from our collective minds. In the past, when I made this I would turn to a can of enchilada sauce…but it always had a tinny, metallic flavor, and since I had some time I thought I should make my own.
Pay attention now…this is where I finally get kicked in the ass for not following the recipe…my chronic love of substituting. The sauce recipe I pulled off the interwebs called for 5 dried pasilla chiles, seeded and stemmed. But I didn’t have pasilla chilies, I had cascabel chilies, 7 of them with a scoville rating of 11,000. Without even considering what the scoville rating was on pasilla, I proceeded to make the sauce…I even threw in a couple of chipolte for fun. I should have been intelligent enough to notice that when I pushed the seeds and stems into the garbage disposal they triggered an asthma attack…but no, I just ignored it. Turns out the cascabel is 10x more pungent…so is the chipolte…in other words my sauce could be used to strip paint but not to make enchiladas.
At this point my hands felt like I’d soaked them overnight in tiger balm…but I kind of like that feeling. I pureed the sauce in the blender and put it back in the skillet to reduce. Finally I tasted it and instantly knew how badly I’d screwed up. How to fix this mistake…hmmm…I’d been hording red bell peppers and Hungarian peppers so I seeded and stemmed them, and tossed them in the chicken stock I’d poached the chicken in. I simmered them for about 10 minutes and then pureed them in the blender with a cup of the stock. Next I added the paint-stripper sauce and blended the two together…tasted it, and it was good…actually so good I wanted to eat it with a spoon…good thing too, because now I have two quarts of enchilada sauce.
The lesson here is to either follow the damn instructions or at least do the research. In the end I probably would have made the sauce in a similar fashion with similar technique and components…but I wouldn’t have used 9 chilis…maybe just 2 or 3.
My chicken filling is delicious…it’s shredded, poached chicken breast, plain yogurt, pepper-jack cheese, green onions, and cilantro. Tossed together and seasoned with salt and pepper it is a tasty, mellow filling.
Traditional enchilada recipes call for the corn tortillas to be dipped in hot oil or lard but I’ve always dipped the tortillas in the heated enchilada sauce. Then I fill them, roll them up, pile them in a well oiled pan, spoon more sauce over the top, and cover with more pepper-jack cheese.
No recipe for this one folks…just follow someone else’s lead for the sauce and use my filling. I’ve got enough sauce, now in my freezer, for three more batches.
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6 Responses to “Chicken enchiladas”
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Looks delicious, but I am definitely a lightweight on the heat so I would probably use even less than the original recipe! I’ve been thinking I should make some enchilada sauce with some of my garden tomatoes but haven’t gotten to it yet.
Oh my, that opening shot is so food-porn-tastic! What a great shot.
I’m just like you–I hate following recipes, even the first time. However, I once made the mistake of following a recipe exactly for chili I got off a message board (created by a chef, no less), and even when I saw it called for 1/4 cup of cayenne, I stupidly trusted it. It had a great flavor, but felt like fire going down my throat! But I wasn’t nearly as clever as you and couldn’t fix it:) Great idea with the peppers and chicken stock.
I want one now please!!
I made a curry last week that ended up a whole lot spicier than I had intended. I had to add so much other stuff to dilute the spiciness that I ended up with an enormous batch of curry.
I think these however, have caused me to crave enchiladas.
Where’s the order button on this page? Seriously, you could make a killing! Speaking of good Mexican food, have you ever tried any of Rick Bayless’ restaurants in Chicago? We just got back from another mouth-watering trip at Frontera Grill. It’s become an obligatory event whenever we stay downtown.
That was quite an adventure, but at least you have enough enchilada sauce to last you for a couple of months. And I always dip my tortillas in sauce as well–no need for the extra fat and they always taste just as good.