Mely Cooks Monday - Enchilada Tutorial

I realized that the whole whopping 3 months Tony and I have been married I haven't made him Red Chicken Enchiladas so naturally, on today's edition of Mely Cooks Monday I chose to make my man some Enchis. Of course, I used my Crockpot to cook the chicken because it comes out perfectly moist and cooked with little effort.

 

I crockpotted (you like that? I made it up myself and I'm going to copyright it) the Chicken breast and made my Enchilada sauce from scratch. Remember what I said about canned Mexican sauces disturbing me? Well it's a true story. I like baking my Enchis with regular Jack and Chedder cheese or any melty cheese I have on hand. I'm a bad Mexican for not making these authentic. P.S. Authentic Mexican Enchiladas are made with Queso Cotija, Carrots and Potatoes. Who knew right?!  This Enchilada sauce recipe I'm about to use is actually from my Momma and my Grandma Flora uses one that's very similar so the sauce is as good as it gets you guys!

 

Of course... If you happen to have a nice chunk of Queso Cotija or Queso Fresco on hand you can make these puppies with real Mexican cheese instead of melty cheese.

This recipe feeds 4 hungry adults. The sauce renders use for as many as 25 to 30 Enchiladas.

 

What you will need...

For the Sauce:

23 Dried Chiles California (see more about this below)

2-3 Garlic Cloves

Pinch of Oregano

2 Peppercorns (optional)

1 TBSP Salt

2 TBSP Oil plus a couple more for "cooking the sauce"

1 Cup of chicken broth from your crockpot for thinning to your liking

 OR it is perfectly okay to buy a couple of Canned Enchi sauces, but that's not how Mely rolls. Mely likes to keep in touch with her Mexican heritage and make her own Mexican sauces. If you buy Enchi Sauce you can use this stuff:

(Personally, I don't like this stuff. It makes me sad but if you are used to using this stuff I can see why de-stemming chiles, washing them, boiling them, blending them with spices, straining them and cooking the sauce in oil would be a huge pain in the butt)

There are some recipes out there for homemade enchilada sauce that call for tomatoes, pureed tomatoes or chili powder. This is Heinous!  Enchilada sauce is NOT supposed to have tomatoes in it. Listen to Mely, Mely knows best.

I'm sorry I keep speaking of myself in third person, I know it's probably annoying. I'll stop now.

 

Chiles California: Red Enchilada Sauce is supposed to be made with these suckers. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise.

 

For the Chicken:

1 Whole Chicken Breast

2 Garlic Cloves

2 TBSP Salt

Water to halfway cover Chicken in Crockpot

 

And for Assembly:

20 Tortillas

3 Cups of Shredded Melty Cheese - Your Choice (I like Cheddar-Jack or Cheddar AND Jack HA!)

Sour Cream

Diced Green Onion (optional)

Shredded Lettuce (optional)

 

Go ahead and cook all Chicken ingredients on high for 4 hours or if you'd like 8 hours while you're at work. Simply use two forks to shred once they are done. Set aside in a bowl with a few TBSP of broth mixed in to keep moist.

 

 

 

Back to the Sauce...

First take all of the stems of your chiles and don't sweat to much over removing all the seeds, just shake them a bit to get them out. Also, a few of them come out during the boiling process. Usually these Chiles aren't super spicy because they've been dried. Once you have de-stemmed them place them all in a small pot like so:

 

 

Then go wash those Chiles in the same pot and drain them. Then add water to the pot as to almost cover them up:

 

 

Then cook on medium heat with a TBSP of salt for about 15 minutes until the chiles are nice and soft. Once they are cooked go ahead and put them in a blender with all the water. You'll notice a lot of seeds at the bottom of the pot. You can discard them or you can use them, up to you.

 

 

 

Now add your Garlic cloves, Oregano, Oil and Peppercorns (if you have some) and blend until nice and smooth! Taste test it for more salt and add Chicken broth to thin it out as you like. I like mine thin but not too thin, I don't want it the consistency of broth. Your sauce will have a beautiful deep red color.

 

 Grab the same pot you used to cook the Chiles, and put on the stove with 2-3 TBSP of oil on LOW heat. Place a strainer on the pot and strain your sauce directly into the pot you will use to cook it. You want to strain it because you don't want any chunks of chile skin or garlic in there. Make sure you use a spoon to strain the sauce as to not letting the sauce get stuck in there because of all the gunk your strainer is catching.

 

I don't have a picture of this because I was using both hands but once you're there you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

Now remove the strainer and crank up the heat to medium high and cook for 10 minutes stirring every 30 seconds or so. The Sauce will bubble up rather quickly. Once done you can let cool for a while or try to brave the conditions and assemble your Enchis while the sauce is still hot.

 

 

Look at that Beauty!

 

Now grab your Tortillas and place in a plastic bag or cover with a towel as to steam them in the microwave for a couple minutes until they are all soft and ready for your use.

 

 

 

Now is the FUN part and you have two options: I did both because I'm crazy.

 

A. You can do things the "traditional" way and individually cook a tortilla in a pan with oil and then dip in the sauce and roll up ONE by ONE with Chicken (this is also what makes cooking enchiladas a real pain in the butt) This makes them taste real good because each tortilla is slightly fried a few seconds on each side as to give it more flavor and fat!

 

B. OR You can directly dip each tortilla in sauce and roll up with chicken and assemble layered in a Baking Pan with a ton of Sauce to keep them moist...

I made you this super dandy collage because I got mad skills

 

...Then add all that Melty Cheese and throw the whole thing in the oven!

 

 

 

OR You can use your Sauce and assemble your Enchis however the heck you want to!!! (Okay I guess that makes 3 options)

 

 ~You can use flour instead of corn

~You can omit meat and use black beans or just cheese

~You can add the sauce to your chicken and make Chicken Enchilada Quesadillas

~You can add the sauce to your chicken, omit the tortillas and make chicken enchilada bowls with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, sour cream and beans

 

The possibilities are endless...

 

Hope you enjoy!

~Mely