Description
Albuquerqueans tend to like their enchiladas rolled. I’ve discovered that in a home kitchen, this is unnecessarily messy, time consuming, and compromises the amount of cheese you’re able to shove into your own face (I know, so predictable).
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cooked chicken breasts (or the equivalent amount of thigh meat, if you know what’s good for you), shredded
- 1 lb. roasted green chile, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 3 – 4 big garlic cloves
- pinch cumin
- pinch oregano
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 quart chicken stock
- corn tortillas
- 8oz. (one brick) sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 8oz. (one brick) jack cheese, coarsely grated
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste, obviously
- iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream and beans (re-fried if you’re feeling really saucy) to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed stockpot or dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and sweat until soft. Add flour, let cook until it turns golden brown and the moisture is gone from the pan. Add chiles, all but 1 cup of the stock and drained tomatoes (reserve juice for bloody Marys, obviously) and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then simmer as long as you have time for, letting it reduce a bit, until the broth has some of the chile flavor.
- With an immersion blender, blend the sauce as much as you like. I like mine to have a little texture left. Santa Feans (Sidekick) seem to like it smooth as soup. Add the chicken to the sauce and continue to simmer while you grate your seemingly excessive amount of cheese.
- Spread the bottom of a baking dish with a bit of the green chile. Make a layer of tortillas on top of that. Because one of life’s great unfairnesses is that tortillas are round and baking pans are rectangular, I like to tear one into quarters to make corners that line up with the edges. Pour some sauce on top, making sure to get some chicken spread evenly throughout. Add a layer of cheese. Then more tortillas, sauce and chicken, cheese, until you reach the top of the dish. Pour a bit more sauce on top and cover that mother with cheese. Pour a cup or so of the stock over the whole dish, this helps the cheese get extra sloppy.
- Bake 20 minutes-ish, or until the whole thing is bubbling and the cheese on top has completely melted. Let rest for 5 minutes or so to prevent liquid cheese burns, then serve in heaping piles with shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream and beans on the side.
Notes
You will probably have some sauce left over. Do not panic. Make huevos tomorrow morning.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 mins