Enchiladas Verdes con Pollo

What I really prefer to do when it comes to “unhealthy” foods like burgers and burritos is to develop my own recipes that are just as satisfying, with all the flavor and heft, but without all the added preservatives and “mystery” calories that you can’t avoid with restaurant food. Cooking what you like in your own kitchen is beneficial in that you know exactly what is going into your meal. I’ve figured out that chances are, with a little research and experimentation, I can probably replicate just about any restaurant dish in my own kitchen. Such is the case with chicken enchiladas verdes. The “verdes,” by the way, means the kind with green sauce rather than red or brown.

Enchiladas can involve some effort if you fill the tortillas and roll them up one by one, but I’ve taken a page out of my friend Shauna’s book and started making them like lasagna – layered in a 9″ x 13″ pan. The sauce for these can be purchased in a can for even greater ease, but fresh tomatillo sauce is so easy to make, and tastes so much better, that the canned variety seems like unnecessary cheating to me. However, if you want this to be a quick mix-it-up-and-put-it-in-the-oven dinner, canned sauce will make it that much easier. Of course, you can always make the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it.

These enchiladas are creamy and spicy, the chiles in the verde sauce leaving a little afterburn on the tongue. The corn tortillas end up tender but not mushy, and the cheese is not overbearing. They take about two hours if you’re making your own sauce, an hour if you’re not. A panful will serve up to twelve people, depending on what you serve alongside. Refried beans and Mexican rice make excellent complements.

For the verde sauce:

2 pounds tomatillos, husked and washed

2 medium poblano chiles, halved and seeded

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking pan with oil, and spread the tomatillos, chiles, onion, and garlic in a single layer in the pan. Roast until soft, 40-45 minutes. Cool slightly. While still warm, transfer the vegetables and their juices to a food processor or blender. Add the cilantro, stock, salt, and pepper, and process until smooth, adding more stock if the sauce is too thick. It should be pourable, but not runny. Set aside. *Note: if you’re making your verde sauce just before assembling the enchiladas, it saves time to cook and shred or dice the chicken (see below) while the vegetables are roasting.

For the enchiladas:

1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast

18 corn tortillas

2 cups chicken stock

2 cups sour cream (fat free is fine)

3 cups verde sauce (see above; if you’re using canned sauce, stir in two small cans chopped green chiles)

2 cups queso blanco or monterey jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Cook the chicken breasts in a pot of boiling water until tender. Remove from water, cool slightly, and shred or dice the meat. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the chicken stock into a skillet, and bring to a simmer. In a 9″ x 13″ pan, begin layering the ingredients as follows: dip one tortilla at a time in simmering stock to soften it, and layer in the bottom of the pan, overlapping slightly (use six tortillas here). Scatter half the chicken over the tortillas, and spread with one cup sour cream. Pour over 1-1/2 cups verde sauce, and spread evenly. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat. End with a layer of tortillas and a final layer of cheese. Bake 30-35 minutes, until heated through and bubbly on top. Remove from oven, and let rest 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Cut into squares, and serve.