When I lived in Oregon, we had a COO who owned a share of a beef ranch and liked to go elk hunting. Both of those are more popular than you might think, because Oregon is like that (he also was part owner in a well-known and high-end goat cheese dairy, but that doesn't fit with this story). Each year, usually late in the fall, was my favorite holiday: Elk Day. That's when the COO would show up at our office, and fill any coolers we had with elk chops, deer chops, elk round steak, deer round steak, ground elk, ground venison, and ground beef. I lived alone, so I could make my supply last until the next elk day. The last of my treasured elk was marinated on a camping trip; the last of the venison was an inauguration day meal. I tell you all of this only to explain the joke: the first time I made enchiladas, they were elkchiladas, and they were fantastic.
Now I settle for beef, but last summer I decided I had made them enough to start experimenting, and devised the following Chicken Spinach Enchiladas. Enjoy!
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cooked and shredded
10 oz package frozen spinach, cooked and drained
1/2 C chopped onion
1/2 C sour cream
1 C shredded cheddar
2 T chopped fresh parsley*
1/4 t black pepper
1/3 C chopped bell pepper
2/3 C water
1 T chili powder
1 1/2 t chopped fresh oregano*
1/4 t cumin
1x 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles, drained
1 clove garlic, finely minced
15 oz can tomato sauce
8-12 tortillas (5-6")
shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, or any other toppings you like
disclaimer: the original recipe I used as a starting point called for corn tortillas. I only used those once, and they pissed me off. If you try to roll them around the filling, they break apart. If you soak them in sauce to make them pliable, they shred apart. They are horrible. However, I once got into a heated argument with someone on Facebook over corn vs. flour tortillas, and it quickly became obvious that neither of us would ever back down from the position of "You're an insane moron with crazy, stupid opinions, and also wrong," so I just de-friended them and had a beer. You can use whatever you want, as long as it's flour. Because corn tortillas are horrible. However, after the first draft of this post, I heard from someone else that if you fry the corn tortillas in oil, it makes them pliable without making them disintegrate. I haven't tried it yet.
- Combine cooked, shredded chicken with onion, sour cream, 1 C cheese, parsley, cooked spinach, and black pepper.
- In 2 qt saucepan, combine bell pepper, water, chili powder, oregano, cumin, green chiles, garlic and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes.
- Spoon a little sauce into the bottom of an 11x7 baking dish (or whatever nearby size you have handy) and spread it around to cover the bottom surface of the pan (I usually achieve this by gently shaking it side-to-side).
- Did you pre-heat the oven? You should do that now. 350F.
- Spoon about 1/3 cup of filling into a tortilla, roll it shut, and place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until you run out of filling.
- Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes, or until bubbly, and the tortillas crisp a little. Top however you like (namely, cheese and sour cream).
*PROTIP: when using fresh herbs, you need about three times as much as you would dried herbs. There are three teaspoons (t) in a tablespoon (T), so if you are like me and pretty much never have fresh parsley laying around, and can't see the reason in buying a big package when you only need a little bit, de-capitalize the T and used dried instead. (or, if it calls for some amount of fresh herbs in teaspoons, just divide by three.)
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