Monday, July 15, 2013

recipe: red chile sauce chicken enchiladas

I grew up hating chicken enchiladas.  My mom always made this with a white sauce over the top and black olives inside...my hatred isn't with the chicken or the enchilada...it's with the black olive.  I avoid them like the plague.  So when I saw this recipe on Pinterest for chicken enchiladas in a red sauce, I was all for it.

They are really quite good - now I made them with flour tortillas, which I realize aren't gluten free, however, I'm still ridding the house of gluten, so next time I'll use corn tortillas. I'm sure they'll be delicious either way.

Check out the recipe and beautiful photo here (one of these times, I'll remember to take a picture of dinner before we dig into it): Red Chile Sauce Chicken Enchiladas

Again, as with all the recipes I put on the blog...I find a way to tweak them and need to remember that, so really you can refer to the link above for the original recipe, or below or my spicier version.


Red Chile Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
YIELD: MAKES 12 ENCHILADAS
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
  • *AnnE's addition: 2 finely chopped carrots
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • *AnnE's addition: 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce
  • *AnnE's addition: 1 can of Rotel tomatoes with Habeneros *hot*
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 large chicken breasts)
  • 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
  • 12 (6-inch) soft corn or flour tortillas (fajita-size for flour tortillas)
  • cooking spray
  • salt and ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
  1. In a large saucepan, combine the onion, jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and oil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a simmer.
  2. Nestle the chicken into the sauce (see step #3 for how I cooked the chicken...I followed the same directions for the sauce). Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 12-20 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the chicken breasts you are using. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside to cool. Continue to simmer the sauce over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
  3. *AnnE's addition: The saucepan that I used was too small to put the chicken in, so I just cooked the chicken breasts in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, I seasoned the chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder and cayenne pepper on both sides prior to putting it in the oven. 
  4. Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium bowl, pressing the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the leftover onion mixture from the strainer to a large bowl and set aside.
  5. Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the onion mixture in the large bowl. Also stir in 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese and the cilantro. Toss to combine.
  6. Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap; Microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40-60 seconds. Spread the tortillas on a clean work surface, and spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay seam-side down in a greased 9×13 inch baking dish.
  7. Heat oven to 400 F. Pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the enchiladas. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil and bake 20 minutes, or until heated through.
  8. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
  9. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, additional cilantro, if desired.
NOTES
Make Ahead Instructions: Follow the recipe, letting the sauce, onions and chicken come to room temperature before assembling the enchiladas. Finish following the recipe instructions and instead of baking, cover the pan with a layer of tin foil and refrigerate for up to 12 hours. Bake covered for 20 minutes, uncover and bake an additional 5-10 minutes. Alternately, the assembled enchiladas can be covered with a double layer of tin foil and put inside a jumbo-size ziploc bag (if you don’t have a jumbo-sized bag, make sure the edges of the pan are sealed well with tin foil). Freeze for up to 2-3 months. Bake from frozen, baking for 1 1/2 hours covered at 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake an additional hour until hot and bubbly.
Recipe Source: adapted from Pink Parsley, originally from America’s Test Kitchen

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