i made enchiladas last night. they were fucking awesome. chicken and chile ones with a tomatillo sauce. could have easily made 'em with canned salsa verde but i don't particularly care for that tinny taste. last year i mastered red enchilada sauce but was intimidated by tomatillos for some reason and never got around to trying the green, which i prefer. this is totally dumb because this version was easier to work with than hydrating and processing all those dried chiles. -shrug-
the recipes i pulled from all said they'd yield 12 enchiladas but i think i don't stuff mine enough because whenever i make them, i always end up with way more than the recipe says it's gonna make. easily twice as many. whatever. that's more enchiladas for me to freeze and eat later.
you're gonna need:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 white onion
5-10 cloves garlic (i love garlic and if the cloves look small i double up)
1.5 lbs tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed and halved
4 serrano chiles
1 bunch cilantro
4 large anaheim chiles
1/2lb-1lb white cheese. i used oaxaca because it's my favorite. jack or mozzarella would be good too.
12 or more corn tortillas
canola or grapeseed oil
broiler proof pan
saucepan
blender, stick blender, or food processor
small brown paper bag (optional)
casserole dish like a 13x9 pyrex dish or something similar
part one - chicken (you can cheat and use a rotisserie chicken):
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, halved
would have thrown some dried epazote in for more depth if i had remembered i was out while i was still at the store. the beauty of poaching is you can add whatever you want to add flavor but you can just use water and it works.
place chicken in a single layer in a sauce pan. these were big breasts. i used a 4 qt sauce pan. add onion and garlic then enough water so that it covers the chicken breasts by a 1/2 inch to an inch.
bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to a bare simmer so that only an occasional bubble breaks the surface. partially cover the pot and let mixture cook for about 10 minutes, then turn off the heat. leave chicken to cook in the hot water for an additional 15 minutes. remove chicken from liquid (reserving liquid) and shred when cool to the touch.
part two - tomatillo sauce (you can cheat and use the canned stuff, you'll need at least 3 cups, more if you like it saucy like me)
1.5 lbs tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed and halved
5-6 cloves of garlic with the skins still on (i love garlic, you can use less)
4 serrano chiles
1/2 white onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup cilantro (well packed)
1 teaspoon salt
place tomatillos cut side down on a broiler pan or a broiler-safe roasting pan lined with foil. add garlic, chiles, and onion. broil for 5-7 minutes, or until the tomatillos are lightly charred. if your broiler sucks like mine does, it might take like, 10-12 minutes to get your char on. remove from the oven and let cool to touch. remove garlic from the garlic skins, discard the skins. cut the stems off the serranos and slice open. scrape out the seeds with your knife and discard seeds and stems. place tomatillos, cooked garlic, serranos, onion, cilantro and 1 teaspoon of salt in a blender, pulse until well pur?ed. thin with reserved poaching liquid if needed. season to taste, if needed. set aside.
part 3 - the chile part (you can skip this part entirely or use canned whole anaheim green chiles--remove seeds and stems if any)
4 large anaheim chiles
if you have a gas stove:
roast chiles directly on your burner. let sit on the burner until skin begins to bubble and turn black. once one side gets pretty well blistered, use tongs (or you can grab the stem with your fingers) to turn the chile to another side. repeat until the chile gets blistered or charred on all sides. pay close attention to the chile, it should just blister and char a bit but not catch fire.
if you do not have a gas stove:
broil the chiles in a roasting pan, turning them until they are blackened all over.
when chiles are charred, place them in a small brown paper bag and let sit for 5 minutes. remove the chiles from the bag and peel off and discard the blackened skin. slice open the chiles and remove and discard the seed pod, any seeds (they're hot!) and the stems. slice the chiles into strips. if you're the recipe people, you'll need 12 strips. if you're me, you'll need like, 20ish. i recommend wearing gloves for this task. the chile oil can hang out on your skin and burn. if you're lucky, you'll forget and touch your eye or a mucous membrane. no bueno.
part 4 - prepping the tortillas:
if you're lucky enough to live close to a tortilleria and can get fresh ones or you're even more badass than me and make your own, you can skip this step. i like to skip this step because i don't see why you need to add more fat.
12 or so corn tortillas
canola or grapeseed oil (something with a high smoke point)
traditional method:
heat a couple tablespoons of canola or grapeseed oil in a frying pan (cast iron works well) on medium high heat. once the oil is hot, add a corn tortilla to the pan. the tortilla should sizzle as it hits the pan. turn it over and let it cook until little pockets of air start to bubble up in the tortilla. then use a metal spatula to remove the tortilla from the pan, shaking off any excess oil, to a plate lined with paper towels. continue to the tortillas this way, adding more oil as needed, separating the tortillas that are cooling with paper towels.
lower-fat method:
place a small amount of oil in the skillet to coat the pan. add a tortilla, flip it to its other side. add another tortilla on top of the first to soak up some of the excess oil. flip them both together and add yet another tortilla. keep adding them wherever there seems to be some excess oil. The idea is to heat the tortillas and soften them with the minimum amount of oil. as the tortillas become soft and heated, remove them to a paper towel to soak up even more excess oil. if you find you need more oil in the pan, add it.
part 5 - assembling the enchiladas
i mix in a little of the tomatillo sauce with the shredded chicken before i start assembling.
spread a little of the tomatillo sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole pan. one by one, place a cheese, a strip of anaheim chile, and a spoonful or two of chicken in the center of the tortilla, roll it up, and place it in the casserole. once you have filled the casserole with the rolled tortillas, spread the remaining tomatillo sauce over them, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
bake at 350 degrees F until cheese is melty. 15 minutes or so.
i went from thinking enchiladas were gross to craving them all the time. i think it doesn't help that i live in a neighborhood where there are like 15 mexican markets within a mile radius and there's this amazing mexican superstore 12 blocks away.
i make an awesome mexican for a filipina. i wonder if i lived this close to filipino-town if i'd make my childhood favorites instead....
Last edited by whackjob; 01-28-2012 at 01:01 PM.
Awesome. Chaunce and the noob devolved the thread into things that resemble, but aren't really, food. Fuck.
Yum, sounds and looks delish.
I made some hamburgers tonight. I know, I know, unworthy food pictures incoming!
Mine.
My husband's.
![]()
Is that blue cheese on yours? And the mushrooms. Nom.
![]()
I wanna burger![]()
And since when does Taco Bell not have chill cheese burritos?@!?!?!?
Yummy, with turn up also, yum.
Nice recipe, i would like to eat this.
Mmmm Jello shots!!
DIRECTIONS!!! READ THIS!!!!
Cut oranges in 1/2 and hollow out (don't want any pulp left at all. Get it all the way to the white-ish part)
Set hollowed orange halves, open side up, in something secure so they don't move around when the jello is in them (I used muffin pans; easy transportation, great to keep them where you want 'em =D)
Prepare jello with 1/3 less water needed for recipe. Pour into orange halves
Set in fridge and chill completely
Take out of fridge, flip over onto cutting board (open side down so it's flat on the surface).
Cut into slices, either halves again (1/4 of the whole) or into 3 slices.
Make sure to use a really good serrated knife, and don't be really forceful with them, it's jello after all! =)
And voila! You have jello orange slices!
![]()
Awesome site! You click on the ingredients you have in your fridge, and it comes up with a recipe for you! Fucking genius.
Sorry if it's a repost.
Last edited by Pheara; 02-13-2012 at 04:49 PM. Reason: removed link
Hmm sorry. I didn't have any problems with it. Doesn't mean anything though. I use AVG, am not crazy about it. :\
Last edited by Pheara; 02-13-2012 at 12:02 PM.
if anyone has any pan roasted chicken recipies they would like to share i'm looking for a good one to make this week.![]()
i don't really have a recipe but make sure you pat that fucker dry after you rinse it. inside and out. and season it liberally inside and out. sometimes i chop up some aromatics (lemon, rosemary, onions, garlic, celery, thyme or some combo) and shove them in the cavity before roasting. sometimes i'll cut up root vegetables and let the drippings drip all over them. sometimes i massage the bird with butter. yum yum. hmmm... this reminds me, i haven't roasted a chicken in a long time.
i've roasted capon before, and it was really good but that was years ago. i think i found some good recopies yesterday, i really appreciate the tips. i'm worried it will be too dry.
i'm going to roast some garlic for the mashed potatoes, i've never done that either but it sounds amazing and delicious.
roasted garlic mashers = YUM. always a hit. and roasted garlic = REALLY FUCKING EASY.
your chicken will only be dry if you over cook it. do you have an instant read thermometer? this will help you make sure you're bird's not in the oven too long. but really, you have to really overcook the shit out of the bird to make it dry. if it's dry, you can always cheat and cover it in gravy. :)
also, if you fill the cavity, don't stuff it full.
Last edited by whackjob; 02-14-2012 at 08:38 AM.
i lost my thermometer in the divorce and i've never replaced it, i guess now is the time to do that. i'm really looking forward to spending the day in the kitchen tomorrow instead of at work. i found a receipe for green beans that includes tyme, so i'll be sure to stuff my bird with some tyme and rosemarry, too.
you could get fancy and make a compound butter and rub it under the skin. :)
theremometer isn't *that* important but it can help. unless of course, you're obsessive about it and keep poking and letting the juices out and opening the door and letting the heat out. :)
mmmmm butter. i think i'll do that. this is gonna be super fancy, by my standards anyway.![]()
Just watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWLt6...e_gdata_player
Also I totally just put a head of garlic in the oven to roast![]()
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)