Thursday, January 17, 2013

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas


I'm Baaaaaaaaaack! 
Haven't blogged in quite some time. Lately, I've been thinking I should really start putting my recipes someplace where I can find them or easily send someone to them when asked. and  duh! why not blog them! Come to think of it I have put a few things here before!

Anyhoo... this recipe is for my deliscious Green Chile Chicken Enchilada's. It's a little different everytime. For example, I have made them all the same ingredients except I used ground Elk meat instead of Chicken. they were still very tasty! Also, fair warning about how I roll: You know how Rachael Ray used to work on 30 min meals? a little of this a little of that, no specific measurements? well if you can work with that then this will come easy, if you need exact measurements, good luck! and I probably won't go back and grammar check or spell check either so deal with the mistakes or go somewhere else! Lastly, some of the work I have done way in advance...
Sorry, I don't have any pictures to post of this one. I'll try to add some next go round!

My basic recipe is something like this:
1 Rotisseri Chicken -Skinned, Boned and and Shredded.
4-6 Hatch Chiles roasted, skinned, deseeded, diced. reserve half for sauce
(this is that work done way in advance part)
1 onion, diced sauteed.
3ish garlic cloves finely diced sauteed with onions
1 bag shredded cheese - Quesadilla cheese (white) but any kind of creamy melty white cheese will do.
1-2 cans rotel 
cilantro 
cumin
salt/pepper

(optional ingredients: Drained/rinsed black beans, Mexi corn, Spinach, mushrooms, BACON!)
2 doz or more tortillas....
back to basics: The SAUCE!
1 jug heavy whipping cream (the mid size)
about 8 oz sour cream (half a container) light or fat free is fine, but at this point why bother!
half block cream cheese
half the Hatch chiles from above
butter, and flour for rue...
1 avocado
cilantro
salt/pepper
1 more bag of cheese (same as above)
Preparing the innards:
The Chiles. IF you have Hatch chiles, use them. fresh roasted are the best flavor! but if you don't you can use canned chiles. 1 can for the chicken mix, 1 can for the sauce mix (approx). I prepared my fresh hatch chiles when they came in season. roasted a bunch and canned them in 4 oz jars.
Chicken. If I've used a rotisseri chicken I shred it and put it through the food processor with the juices too and chop it into a fine mix. Doing it this way really keeps the moisture in the chicken and helps the entire recipe over all have a better taste and texture! (that, my friends is the big secret in this recipe)
place your finely diced chicken paste in a large mixing bowl and add to it the Chiles, onion, garlic, rotel and cheese. Season to taste with the cumin, salt, pepper and cilantro. Stir it all together until it's all evenly distributed.
Now... the easiest thing to do is roll the mixture into some softened FLOUR tortillas (taco size) and start lining them into a greased baking dish... if you choose to use corn tortillas there's a whole extra step. Corn tortillas should be slightly fried in a shallow bath of hot oil before rolling. This step helps to bind the corn tortilla so it doesn't crumble and crack when rolling. Pros: good corn tortilla enchilada's. Con: lots of extra work and grease... Everyone has preferred my flour tortilla enchiladas over the corn so I will be using flour.
Once you've gotten all your enchilada's rolled you make the sauce!
CREAMY Green Sauce!
Start with a rue: equal parts (two tbls) butter and flour in a pan it will clump and turn brownish. Start whisking into the rue the whole jug of whipping cream on a med/high heat. (about a pint, i think) whisk until the clumps are mostly gone from the rue and the cream starts to thicken some. Add to that the cream cheese in small clumps, sour cream, avacodo (also in small clumps) and the other half of your chiles. season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and simmer while whisking until it's mostly creamy. You may have a few small clumps of avacodo and the chiles of course but mostly it's real creamy. you can also get out your handy dandy hand blender if you have one - I do and it's fabulous! I use it almost daily for something!
Pour sauce and spread evenly of your enchiladas sprinkle with cheese and bake (at 350) until the cheese is all melty and maybe a little crusty! sprinkle a little cilantro on top for color and flavor... or leave it out. either way. All DONE!
Should yield at least 2 doz Enchilada's, probably more... (note: this batch made 3 doz)
Sorry if I'm all over the place! These were a HUGE hit last time I made them. Even my bro in law admitted they were great and he thinks he makes the best enchilada's! LOL! :)

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