Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

Submitted by Geema

"My favorite way to make enchiladas...creamy, mild and delicious. Fire lovers can add hot sauce to the finished product."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 20
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 4 chicken breast halves
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1⁄2 onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 parsley sprigs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 9 small tortillas
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bunch spinach, chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 3⁄4 cup sour cream
• 3 green onions, sliced thin
• 1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, drained
• 3⁄4 lb monterey jack cheese, grated
• sour cream
• 5 tablespoons olive oil

directions

1. FOR FILLING:

2. Place chicken and broth in large saucepan.
3. Add carrot, onion, garlic, parsley and bay leaf. Bring to boil.
4. Cover and simmer 5 minutes at very low heat.
5. Turn off heat and let stand until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes.
6. Remove chicken from broth and cool slightly.
7. Strain cooking liquid.
8. Return to saucepan and boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups.
9. Skin and bone chicken; shred meat and place in medium bowl. Chill.

10. FOR SAUCE:

11. Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat.
12. Add flour and cook until light brown, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.
13. Whisk in reserved chicken cooking liquid, increase heat to medium and cook until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.
14. Add spinach and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes.
15. Transfer to processor.
16. Add sauce, sour cream, onions, cilantro and can of chilies. Puree until smooth.
17. Season with salt and pepper.
18. Preheat oven to 400°F.
19. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
20. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over the bottom.
21. Add 1/2 cup sauce to cooked, chilled chicken, then mix in 2 1/2 cups grated cheese.
22. Pour 5 tablespoons oil into heavy medium skillet, heating over medium-low heat.
23. Add 1 tortilla and cook until softened, about 5 seconds.
24. Drain and repeat with rest of tortillas.
25. Divide chicken filling among tortillas and roll up, arranging seam side down in prepared dish.
26. Bake enchiladas about 10-15 minutes. Add remaining cheese on top and bake 5 minutes more.
27. Serve with more sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Reviews

[user225869]

Thank you for sharing this recipe! I recognize it as the one for which I have been searching in the Bon Appetit archives. (By mistake, I had lost or tossed the old magazine containing this recipe.) It is my absolute favorite chicken enchilada recipe, although quite labor-intensive!!! We like ours on the mild side so I go very sparingly on the green chilies.

 

[Bayhill]

These are different enchiladas, but they are very good. We like our enchiladas spicy, so I used jalapeno pepper jack cheese and it was perfect. I was able to make 12 enchiladas with the filling instead of 9. Also, I made the sauce right in the saucepan using an immersion blender. This made quite a bit of sauce, so I think next time I will add more to the chicken mixture before rolling them in the tortillas. My family devoured these and proclaimed them a winner. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.