Enchiladas Verdes - Cooking Demo

[PanNan]

Today we're cooking up some delicious enchiladas verdes from scratch as they do in Mexican kitchens. We'll make the green sauce with fresh ingredients, and we'll also cook and shred the seasoned chicken. I won't demonstrate the preparation of fresh corn tortillas here today. I'm very fortunate to have convenient access to taquerías and grocery stores where they are freshly made each day and sold for a very reasonable price. I do recommend using the freshest corn tortillas you can find. There is a definite difference in taste and texture.

Let's get comfortable - we'll be in the kitchen about 2 1/2 hours. It's not all work time, though, we'll have time to chat and enjoy the wonderful smells coming from our pots, too. OK, it's time to get started........

The recipe I use was given to me by my sister-in-law who helped her mother cook for a very large family in Mexico City. This is her family recipe. Note - there are a lot of hot peppers in this recipe, because that's how they liked it. You can certainly cut back on the peppers if you'd like. Authentic Mexican Enchiladas Verdes

I always gather and prepare the ingredients first to make sure I have everything and to be able to focus exclusively on cooking when it's time to do so, which makes it so much easier.

The sauce ingredients:
3 quarts water
25 medium tomatillos, husked
3 onion halves, peeled
10 cloves garlic, peeled
10 serrano chilies, seeded (Can be adjusted to taste)
30 sprigs fresh cilantro
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 slices onions
salt

[PanNan]

We need to heat the water in a large pot to boiling. Then, we'll add all the tomatillos, 2 onion halves, 6 garlic cloves, and 7 (or less) serrano chiles and let them simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.



When they have finished simmering, turn off the heat, and let cool slightly. Drain, or just lift out the solids with a large slotted spoon and place into a large food processor container. If you have a blender, you can do this in smaller batches. Be sure to reserve about 1 cup cooking liquid.



Add the remaining raw onion half, 4 garlic cloves, 3 chiles (or less), the cilantro, and about 1/2 cup reserved cooking liquid to the food processor bowl with the cooked ingredients and process them until sauce is smooth.

[PanNan]

To cook the sauce, heat the oil in medium saucepan. Add onion slices and saute until lightly browned. The combination of cooked ingredients, raw ingredients, and sauteed ingredients really adds depth of flavor. Believe me, it's worth the trouble. It's been pretty easy so far anyway - we haven't even broken a sweat.........



Stir the sauce into the pan with the sauteed onion slices and season with salt. Simmer the sauce uncovered, until slightly thickened, about 30- 45 minutes. If the sauce thickens too much, thin it with the remaining reserved cooking liquid from the tomatillos.

[PanNan]

While the sauce ingredients are simmering, prepare the chicken. We'll need:

2 quarts water
3 whole chicken breasts, halved (6 halves)
1 medium onion, thickly sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled
You can use a whole chicken instead of the breast halves, but I like white meat in my enchiladas, so I use the breasts.



To make the chicken meat, heat 2 qt water in large pot to boiling. Add chicken, onion, garlic, and salt to taste. Simmer just until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.



Turn off the heat, let the chicken cool slightly, then remove chicken from liquid. Remove and discard skin and bones; shred meat. You can use your fingers or a fork - I use a combination of both.

[PanNan]

While the chicken was simmering, we were keeping an eye on the sauce, and stirring it from time to time. If it's a little to thick, add some of the reserved liquid. When the sauce has finished cooking, we can leave it on the stove, but turn off the heat.

Now we have our sauce and chicken ready, and we still have plenty of energy left. It hasn't been hard yet. The aromas are really perking up my appetite. Just about an hour to meal time.

It's time to prepare the tortillas. I like to use the white corn tortillas. Flour tortillas get doughy/soggy when soaked in sauce, so it's best to use corn tortillas for enchiladas.

Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium heat. I like to use a 12" non-stick skillet, and I can fit two tortillas in it at a time. Cook the tortillas, turning once after about 10 seconds, just until flexible but not crisp, about 20 seconds total for each. Because you're moving pretty quickly, it's easier to manage one tortilla at time until you're more experienced at it.



Drain the tortillas on a thick layer of paper towels wrapped up inside a clean cloth kitchen towel (or tortilla warmer). This will drain them and keep them soft and warm. Today, I'm cooking a large batch, so I'm covering them with foil and topping that with a dish towel to keep them warm and pliable.

[PanNan]

When the tortillas are ready, we can preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. It's also time to coat two 13 X 9 baking pans with vegetable oil.

To put the enchiladas together we first dip each tortilla in the sauce. Place the dipped tortilla on a plate, making sure there's still some sauce on the tortilla. Sometimes I put it directly in the baking pan and work with it there. Place some of the chicken meat on top of the saucy tortilla. If you like, you can add a little cheese on top of the chicken, and if you really like it tasty, you can add a little chopped onion and/or chopped cilantro too. Just don't make it so fat it's hard to roll.



Place the rolled stuffed tortillas next to each other, and fill each pan.



Top with green sauce.



Spoon creme fraiche (or sour cream) over sauce. Sprinkle chopped onion and cilantro over the top. Sprinkle cheese over all.



OK, I'll admit, this part did take some energy, but we're so close to the prize, we aren't stopping now.

[PanNan]

Now all we have to do is place the pans in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until the cheese is melted, slightly browned, and all is bubbly hot and ready to eat.



Oh boy! It's finished. I like to serve this with refried beans and Mexican rice.

You'll note that the recipe make 24 enchiladas. It's not that much more effort to make the larger quantity, and I freeze the extra servings for future quick weeknight meals.

I hope you enjoyed the demo, and will try making some home made enchiladas soon.

[Karen From Colorado]

If you have questions, please post them in the Mexican Cooking forum where the experts will be happy to answer them for you.