Chi Chi's Seafood Enchilada/Cancun

KingJackQueen's Note:

I spent 16+ years at Chi Chi's. This is the recipe you want. In the restaurant these are cooked right on the plate. (Remember... The plates are hot and then you touched them anyway. lol) You could cook them all together in a baking dish. Cook time and temperature may need to be adjusted if not cooking with a convection oven. Enjoy with your favorite spanich rice, refried beans and sweet corn cake.

• Total Time: 52 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 5

Yield: 10.0 enchila ...

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons lobster base
• 3 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk
• 1 cup white wine or 1 cup cooking sherry
• 8 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 1 (4 ounce) can baby shrimp
• 2 (8 ounce) packages imitation crabmeat, flake style
• 10 (6 inch) flour tortillas, old mission restaurant style
• paprika

Directions:

1. FOR THE SAUCE.
2. melt butter in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat.
3. add flour.
4. cook and stir for 5 minutes(should have a nutty aroma).
5. add 1/2 tsp white pepper.
6. stir in 2 tbsps lobster base and cook for an additional minute.
7. add milk & wine.
8. add 2 oz. of the cheese.
9. continue to cook until thickened.
10. FOR THE CRAB MIX.
11. lightly chop the flaked imitation crab.
12. combine with shrimp in a medium size bowl.
13. add 1.5 cups of cold sauce.
14. mix well.
15. FOR THE ENCHILADAS.
16. lay out the tortillas on a flat surface.
17. place 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the crab mix across the center of each tortilla.
18. place flap of the tortilla over the crab mix and roll.
19. place flap side down onto a plate or in your baking dish.
20. ladle warm sauce over the enchiladas.
21. top with remaining monterey jack cheese.
22. put into a preheated 425 degree convection oven for 12-14 minutes. In a conventional oven you may want to microwave on high for a minute or 2 before placing in the oven.
23. watch and do not allow to burn(brown spots).
24. sprinkle with paprika.

Reviews

[tommy53562]

This is the real deal...We remember many nights at Chi Chi's on Mineral Point road in Madison...and the CanCun enchilada was my fav. Thanks KingJackQueen for posting this wonderful recipe! After reading many of the revues Some of the reviewers had problems with this recipe.. Several things that are important to have this turn out right. 1. Make sure you're using unsalted butter...the lobster base is salty and using the unsalted butter is important. 2. Cook the ruox stirring constantly until it begins to turn light brown and you can really smell that nutty aroma. 3. Make sure you do use the lobster base...both Whole Foods and Woodmans Groceries carry it 4. And lastly be sure to use sherry rather than white wine because you can taste the sherry in the final sauce.

[Improvmom]

This was perfect! My Mom & I used to be the Cancun's biggest fans - that's what we ordered every single time we dined at Chi Chi's. For her Christmas gift this year, I made a pan of these for her. They were so delicious and just how we both remembered them. Thanks to another savvy reviewer, I made the shrimp broth from a ramen packet and substituted it for the lobster base (22cents at Walmart instead of buying a jar of lobster boullion). I also used one pkg of imitation crab and one pack of lobster flavored imitation crab.

We really truly were in heaven eating that wonderful meal. My Mom said it was her favorite gift! I've been buying "sweet corn cake" mix by Chi Chi's brand at SuperTarget for a while now. Make a batch of that to go along and you can't go wrong! Thanks so much for posting this recipe KingJackQueen!!

[Chef #1153512]

This was an excellent copy of the dinners I remembered at ChiChi's... I would like to clarify one ingredient, though:

2 tbs. Lobster STOCK, not Lobster base. The "base" is the concentrate that's used to prepare the stock, and if you used 2 tbs of the base, you would seriously overpower the entire recipe.