A quest completed
Posted by Kathryn @ 3:52 PM
Many of my friends know that I love sour cream enchiladas. One of my favorites restaurant versions was the Carnitas ones at the Ninfa’s in Waco, TX with a few slices of avocado. Now at home I am not likely to make carnitas and then make enchiladas too… so instead I have settled on perfecting a different version called smoked chicken enchiladas more similar to Trudy’s in Austin, TX. I am not going to claim that these are low fat, but they are good for you in the good for your soul kind of way. This must be my 10th version of these, so I hope they please.
• 16 corn tortillas ( flour tortillas may turn out too gummy for this)
• vegetable oil for pan-frying about an inch in the pan will do
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• Several drops liquid smoke
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander (optional)
• Pinch of red pepper flake ( omit if you want this more mild)
• 1 can Rotel (optional… makes filling moister)
• 16-18 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup minced onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chiles, with juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
I started out this recipe by cooking the chicken breasts in strips in my stovetop smoker with some alder chips for 2 hours. At the end of the two hours they were a bit smoky, but certainly not smoky enough to taste the flavor through all the enchilada components. Resigned, I succumbed to the little bottle of liquid smoke. It worked wonderfully and I would say in the future just start with cooked chicken breasts and add the smoke from a bottle unless you have an outdoor smoker.
Saute the onions in a skillet until softened. Turn off heat. Add the can of Rotel (you can drain off most of the juice), Cumin, coriander and chicken and cilantro. Mix and set aside. Check for salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until mixture begins to boil. Slowly add the broth, stirring with a whisk until thickened. Mix in the sour cream and chiles, heat thoroughly but do not boil, stirring occasionally. Add 3-4 ounces of cheese to the sauce and stir until combined. Add red pepper flakes if desired. Check for salt and pepper.
Fry tortillas (one at a time) for 5 seconds on each side to soften and make them pliable. Add more oil to pan as needed. Drain between layers of paper towel and keep warm. Other people just microwave their tortillas in a damp paper towel. I find that this usually doesn’t work for me in the land where tortillas are not delivered every day to the grocery store called Pittsburgh. They usually end up splitting and the tortillas seem to lack texture against the substantial sauce.
Take a casserole pan. Pour a quarter cup or so of sauce on the bottom. Assemble the enchiladas by dividing the chicken and 10 oz of cheese among the tortillas. Roll the tortilla and place seam side down in the pan. After all enchiladas are in the pan, pour enchilada sauce over the top ( there may be more sauce than you need… no need to drown them). Sprinkle 3-4 more oz of cheese on top. Cook in 375 degree oven until bubbly.. about 25 minutes.
One nice variation is to actually make the enchiladas on a cookie sheet with sides where each enchilada is separated and just has some sauce poured on top. This makes them a little crunchy/chewier sort of like the enchilada edges which were always my favorite and I think they seem more like restaurant style, but this does make serving less elegant if the pan comes to the table, but as this is casual food, it didn’t matter to me.
