I think I’ll start a new tag for food crushes because I have to admit, I have many.
Ina and Mario are probably my biggest food crushes with Madhur Jaffrey steadily climbing up the ranks. My other love as of late is Rick Bayless ye of Mexican food. I’m currently working my way through Mexican Everyday which has been mostly hits with some misses. My latest venture ended up being pretty darned good.
This recipe isn’t particularly time consuming which made it surprisingly easy as a weeknight meal… or maybe I’m more ambitious than the average person on a weeknight. The worst of it was making the sauce. Cooking the peppers, blending everything together etc. It wasn’t even really that bad. My main complaint about the recipe is that I could not stretch my ingredients to make 12 enchiladas. I may have gotten 8 total. I’m not sure if I just didn’t have enough chicken or what but it did not go far at all. On another note I discovered that dipping the tortillas in the sauce, folding it over, spooning sauce on top and sprinkling with cheese is a DELICIOUS way to use the leftover tortillas. I would even make just the sauce and eat tortillas like that for breakfast or dinner.
For the record the recipe calls for Mexican melting cheese which I think (correct me if I’m wrong) can mean chihuahua cheese or queso fresco… it all mentions that you can use cheddar. Given the fact that I had some pre-shredded cheddar to clear out of my fridge I went that route and was totally satisfied with the outcome.
Red Chile Enchiladas with Chicken & Melted Cheese
4 med dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded & torn into flat pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled & quartered
1 28-oz can fired roasted diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t ground black pepper
1 T vegetable or olive oil, plus a little extra for the tortillas
2 c chicken broth, plus a little extra if necessary
12 corn tortillas
salt 1/2 t sugar
2 c coarsely shredded cooked chicken
1 c shredded Mexican melting cheese
1 small white onion cut into rings
cilantro for garnish
Turn on oven to 350. Set a medium skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, toast the chile pieces a few at a time, pressing them against the hot surface with a spatula until aromatic & lightened in color underneath, about 10 seconds per side. Transfer the roasted to a blender jar. Add the garlic, tomatoes with their juice, cumin & black pepper. blend until as smooth a consistency as possible.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Set a medium-mesh strainer over the pan & pour in the sauce. Press through the strainer to remove bits of chile skin. Then cook, stirring until the sauce is reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour in the broth, reduce the heat to med-low and let simmer 10 minutes while you prepare the tortilla, filling & toppings.
Lay out the tortillas on a baking sheet & spray or brush lightly on both sides with oil, then stack them in twos. Slide the tortillas into the oven & bake just long enough to make them soft & pliable, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven & stack them in a single pile; cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm.
Taste the sauce & season with salt, usually about 1 1/2 t, and the sugar. Stir in additional broth is the sauce has thickened beyond the consistency of light cream soup.
Spread about 1/2 c sauce over the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking dish. Stir another 1/2 cup sauce into the chicken. Lay out a warm tortilla, top with a portion of chicken & roll up. Lay seam side down in the baking dish. Continue filling & rolling the rest of the tortillas, then ladle the remaining sauce over the enchiladas & sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is starting to brown. Sprinkle with the onion rings & cilantro.
