Enchiladas: An old favourite, revisited

May 14th, 2010

I am a big, big fan of enchiladas as a concept – spicy sauce, tasty filling, cheese, tortillas, what’s not to love? However, I can’t swear to the authenticity of any of the enchiladas I’ve ever made. One of my favourite recipes involves a mess of corn and roasted red peppers and spinach tossed together with cottage cheese, and a cheater’s sauce made of bottled salsa and cream. (In my defense, this combination is really delicious and really quick to put together. And I do make enchiladas with many other fillings, too.)

This month’s Daring Cooks challenge – stacked green chile and chicken enchiladas (though I’ve always called this a tortilla strata and saved the term “enchiladas” for tortillas rolled around the filling and baked) was an excellent opportunity to revisit the dish and strive for authenticity.

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

I decided to finally take my grandmother up on her offer to let me borrow her tortilla press (I think it may be a permanent loan!) and make my own corn tortillas. My first attempt at this, a few years ago, was a miserable failure, but I was ready to try again. I visited the Perola Supermarket in Kensington for masa harina, fresh tomatillos, and poblano chilies. If anyone found Anaheim chilies in Toronto, I’d love to know where!

I also made a second batch for the fellow’s family, using chicken chorizo, potatoes, and mushrooms for the filling, with a spicy tomato-based sauce. I have no pictures, but I’ll have to sit down and figure out exactly what I put into it, because it was really good too.

I served both versions of the enchiladas with the Mexican red rice from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Seductions of Rice – at some point soon I’ll write that up as a post in itself, because it’s a book that deserves some dedicated attention.

Barbara and Bunnee, thanks for another wonderful challenge!

I stuck very close to the challenge recipe for my green chile enchiladas, but did make a few adjustments based on my preferences and the ingredients I could find:

Stacked Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas

1½ pounds fresh poblano chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) roasted and peeled and chopped coarsely.
7-8 ounces tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)
4 cups chicken broth
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
4 boneless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil
12 small corn tortillas (I actually used 18, though)
1 cup (or so) grated queso fresco and cheddar
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled

Notes: I marinated my chicken in a mix of buttermilk, garlic, and chilies for most of a day, then grilled it. I’m not sure how much this added flavour-wise or tenderness wise, but the chicken was fairly good, and shredded easily enough. I also didn’t bother to peel my tomatillos or de-seed my chilies – this last might have made more of a difference with spicier chilies, I’m not sure. As it was, my sauce was tasty but (in my opinion) not spicy in the least. I was serving it to relatives less spice-fanatic than I, so I was very conservative, but next time I make this, I’ll certainly add a few hot chilies or some hot sauce.

I used Rick Bayless’ recipe for the corn tortillas, quite successfully, though I only had one frying pan.

For the chicken breasts:

As noted, marinate if you choose. I grilled the chicken breasts just before I was ready to put the enchiladas together, until they were just cooked through, then shredded them up.

For the sauce:

Step one is to roast the peppers: place an oven rack fairly close to the top of the oven, and pre-heat to 450F. Brush the peppers all over with olive oil and place them on a cookie sheet (lined with foil or parchment for ease in moving the peppers around). Place the cookie sheet in the oven and roast the peppers until they are blackened on all sides. I checked mine every ten minutes or so, and when one side was blackened, turned them over. Set them aside, covered with a cloth, to cool for at least 10 minutes. Remove the skins and stems and chop the peppers coarsely.

While the peppers are roasting, bring a pot of water to boil. Remove any papery skins from the tomatillos, and then boil the tomatillos for 8 minutes or so, until tender.

In a saucepan, combine the chicken broth, garlic, chopped chilies, tomatillos, onion, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. I used an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the cornstarch, mixed with a bit of water; stir well and continue to simmer until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4 to 5 cups.

For the stacked enchiladas:

Spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Top with a single layer of tortillas, followed by a layer of chicken, followed by sauce, followed by cheese, and then repeat beginning with another layer of tortillas. I always try to end with a layer of tortillas, then sauce, then cheese.