2006/07/26
Why are enchiladas such a degraded food item in the mexican restaurant scene? Outside of the enchiladas rancheras at Las Margaritas enchiladas at most mexican restaurants are merely filler items. They're cheap, filled with cheese, and topped with cheese. Its a Mexican cheese sandwich if anything. Even the greatest little mexican restaurant in Tampa is not immune to this enchilada-marginalization process. Somewhere along the way enchiladas became the mexican restaurant equivalent of the 99 cent chicken sandwich. Well no longer shall enchiladas be solely relegated to the cheap friend, the guy who wants to supplement his chimichanga, or the guy out with his friends who already ate earlier in the day and is just ordering something cheap so he doesn't feel awkward for the entire meal.
Enchiladas Verde
Serves 4 people. Cooking time: about 1 hour.The ingredients:
- 1lLB. of tomatillos
- 2 white onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- half a bunch fresh cilantro
- 3 bone-in chicken breasts
- 1-4 jalepenos
- 2 green peppers
- 2 cups shredded mexican cheese OR 2 cups crumbled queso fresco
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 12 corn tortillas
- vegetable oil
The algorithm:
The Chicken
In a saucepan, combine the chicken breasts, half an onion, 1 clove of garlic, and chicken broth. Boil for about 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. When the chicken is done, remove and set aside. Strain the broth into a container and also set aside. After the chicken has cooled enough to handle, shred the chicken by hand and set aside.
The Salsa
While the chicken is boiling, combine the tomatillos and peppers in a saucepan and fill up the pan with enough water to cover them. boil the tomatillos until they change color from bright green to a dull green (see pictures). Strain. In a blender combine tomatillos, peppers, 1/4 of an onion, 2 cloves garlic, and chicken broth. Puree.
Depending on how hot you like your food, use 1-4 jalepenos. I love spicy food and found 3 jalapenos to be perfect. Only use 4 or more if you're really adventurous.
When blending the salsa, I recommend starting out with a little bit of chicken broth and adding a little more each time until you reach the desired consistancy.
The Rest
Cut the rest of the onion and green peppers into strips and sautee with the butter until soft. Set aside
generously coat a pan large enough to fit a tortilla with vegetable oil. Heat on medium-high. Fry each tortilla until both sides are golden brown and crispy. The tortillas will become hard and may expand as they are heated, this is fine. After all the tortillas are fried, pour the salsa into a saucepan large enough to fit a tortilla and heat it at a medium-low setting. Completely submerge each tortilla in the salsa until it turns soft again. Place the tortilla on the plate, fill with shredded chicken and onions and peppers and fold the tortilla over itself. The salsa coating should keep the tortilla well secured to itself. Top with more salsa, chopped cilantro, and either shredded cheese or queso fresco. Serve.
Note: I made two batches of this. On the first batch (pictured) I used queso fresco as the topping. On the second I used shredded mexican cheese. While each way has its advantages I was more drawn to the shredded cheese batch. Queso fresco, while possessing an excellent texture, does not contain a strong flavor. As an avid lover of cheese, I found myself more drawn to the uber-cheesiness provided by covering my enchiladas with the shredded.
Posted by Adam Rugg on 2006/07/26 @ 4:52 | Comments (6) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts
Comments
Spot on, man. A mexican fried cheese sandwich is the perfect descriptor for what the enchilada has become in most mexican restaurants. These look great, I'll have to try making them sometime.
Do you think theres a way to work some chorizo in there?
Posted by: Chris Santoro at July 27, 2006 12:39 AM
I think chorizo would be wonderful for the filling. I was actually contemplating using chorizo or steak, but bone-in chicken was on sale at sweetbay so I submitted to my love of sales and purchased it.
I would think if you used chorizo the best thing to do would be to chop it up and cook it with the peppers and onions and just disregard the chicken.
Posted by: Adam Rugg at July 27, 2006 3:36 AM
You used cilantro! Fabulous! I love cilantro on just about any kind of meaty, cheesy, or curry goodness.
The enchiladas look enchanting. Will have to give it a go.
Posted by: Natasha D'Souza at July 27, 2006 10:58 PM
wow i made and it was great it needed a little chili to make it more spicy.
Posted by: adrian at January 29, 2008 5:30 PM
My encciladas didn't come out good
Posted by: Johnny Flores at September 8, 2008 2:47 PM
recipe looks great, but you have confused "its" with "it's" in the description. Should be "It's a cheese sandwich..." because with the apostrophe, "it's" means "it is." without, "its" is the possessive form of "it" -- "The enchilada is dry without its sauce." Got it?
Posted by: Scarlett at September 16, 2008 7:34 AM