For Darling Aurora: Green Chicken Enchiladas
Our family has been fortunate enough to be stationed in our hometown of San Diego, CA. My husband and I were both born and raised here. Having both traveled, recreationally and for business, I can say with certainty that we are lucky to live in such a beautiful city. We've got a great skyline, beautiful beaches, nice temperate weather, and amazing food...especially Mexican. Living so close to the border has given us a slight advantage over other cities; and we do take advantage of it regularly.
I grew up with a "second mom" whom I lovingly refer to as "my Anna Sweetie Pie." She was born in Mexico and instilled in me the seeds of my love of Latin American culture. It's because of her that I went on to become quite fluent in Spanish (yo entiendo mucho más que yo hablo), even though I'm of Chinese/Korean decent I can speak neither of these languages, and began cooking Mexican food. And although he doesn't really use it, my husband understands/speaks Spanish as well. Our son...well...for a little while when he was younger he understood it and spoke it very minimally, but I didn't emphasize it so he has since lost it. One thing all of us share, however, is our love for Mexican food. We eat it out in local restaurants or in our home at least once a week, usually more.
Being the quintessential housewife, I prefer the satisfaction of making meals for my family myself. And with all my darling girl friends getting married, having babies, and becoming involved in serious relationships...I think I'm rubbing off on them as well. This recipe is requested often in our house and when I recently posted on Facebook that I would be making it, my darling friend Aurora asked for the recipe. So Aurora darling...this is for you, I hope that you enjoy it!
Ingredients
1 roasted chicken, bones removed and shredded (can be homemade or store bought)
1 batch of homemade Salsa Verde* (recipe follows)
12 large corn tortillas (I used about 18 small homemade ones)
1/2 lb of shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican cheese blend
3/4 cup corn or canola oil
sour cream (optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Be sure to have prepared your salsa verde prior to assembling your enchiladas. You could even do it the night before.
2. In a 9x13 greased ceramic or glass baking dish ladle a small amount of the salsa verde. Make sure that it coats the entire bottom of the pan, but is a thin enough layer that you can still see through it.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet. Using cooking tongs, pass the tortillas, one at a time, quickly through the oil, about 10 seconds per side. Place tortillas between paper towels to absorb excess oil. To assemble, put about 1/12th of the shredded chicken on each tortilla and a pinch of cheese. Spread one tablespoon of the Salsa Verde over the chicken. Roll the tortilla around the chicken and sauce and place in the prepared baking dish.
4. Once you've finished the process with all the chicken and tortillas, pour the remaining salsa verde over your rolled tortilla mixture. Be sure to cover all the tortillas as you don't want any of them drying out or burning in the oven. After you've covered your enchiladas with your salsa verde, sprinkle the remaining cheese over them and place the entire dish in the oven.
5. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is all melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, eat and enjoy!
*Salsa Verde
Ingredients
1 lb. tomatillos, husked and rinsed (might have sticky residue, scrub outside lightly)
1 medium white onion, rough chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 jalapeño peppers
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime, halved and seeded
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Instructions
1. Place the tomatillos and jalapeños into a small pot with enough water to cover them. Boil until the tomatillos and jalapeños are softened, but not mushy. Once they've softened drain the water. Their color at this point might have changed from a bright green to a somewhat muted green, have no fear, the salsa will still be a lovely green color.
2. Put the softened tomatillos and jalapeños into a blender along with the onion, garlic, cilantro, and juice from the lime. Blend on high until smooth. Take some precautions when opening the blender after as this mixture will be still quite hot and could explode slightly when the blender top is opened.
3. In the same pot that you boiled the tomatillos and jalapeños in previously and heat the vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed, add the blended tomatillo mixture...again, take some precautions because the mixture will splatter and pop a bit. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt to taste.
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