White Chicken Enchiladas

This appeared to be an easy meal to prepare so I chose to make it on a week night - ummm this turned out to be incorrect. There is a lot of prep work in this meal, however, it is definitely worth it because the flavors are fantastical. So all in all I would most definitely make this again, but on a weekend when I am not worn out tired from work all day - ha! We didn't end up eating until almost 8 because it took my that long to prepare - whoops! I have such a bad habit of not reading the entire recipe before I start! Anyway this will make enough for 8 people but leftovers are great. I ended up having a ton of cheese sauce and the chicken mixture after making the enchiladas too. Some ideas for this could be breakfast, cheesy pasta or rice dish. We will see if that happens over the next few days...

I substituted the bell peppers with green and only used 1 red to save some money. I used 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts. I seasoned them with Salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder & garlic powder. I seared both sides in a cast iron skillet over high heat and then cooked them about 20 minutes in oven on 375º. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5-10 minutes and then shred with 2 forks. Try not to eat all the chicken while you are shredding like I did! :-)

White Chicken Enchiladas

Serves 8

White Chicken Enchiladas

ingredients

• 3 bell peppers (I used 2 green & 1 red)

• 1 each jalapeno, serrano & Fresno chile pepper

• 1 large onion, diced

• 1 jalapeno, seeded & diced

• 1 T canola oil

• 2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

• 3 cups chicken broth

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

• 1 tsp paprika
• Dash of salt
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cups grated pepper jack & cheddar combined
• 1 cup sour cream
• 16 small corn tortillas
• cilantro & salsa for serving

• Kosher Salt & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Roast the bell peppers, Serrano, 1 jalapeno & Fresno chiles over gas flame on stove until charred on all sides. You can also do this in the broiler, just turn them every minute or so. Keep an eye on them in the broiler though because they can go quick. Remove from flame and put in a large bowl and cover/seal with plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Remove charred skin with a paper towel, chop the chiles and set aside.

2. In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, saute the onion and remaining jalapeno pepper with some S&P in the canola oil. Cook for 3 minutes until onion is translucent.Add the shredded chicken,  1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 tsp paprika, salt and half of the chopped roasted peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.

3. In another skillet, over medium-high heat, melt the butter and then sprinkle in the flour. Whisk around for 1 minute until the flour is golden in color. Slowly pour in 2 cups of the chicken broth, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring then pour in 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 tsp paprika, and 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese. Stir in the sour cream and the remaining chopped roasted peppers. If the sauce seems too thick, splash in some chicken broth. Turn heat to low and stir occasionally until you are ready to use. Taste and add some salt if needed.

4. Toast the tortillas over gas stove until warm and slightly charred. It's time to assemble these babies!

5. Place small amount of chicken mixture in the center of a tortilla, top with some cheese sauce (not too much!), roll and place seam side down in a baking dish. Repeat until all 16 tortillas are stuffed. I had to use a 9x13 baking dish and an 8x8 dish to accommodate all of them! Pour the sauce on top of the enchiladas and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 25 minutes until bubbly and golden on top. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with cilantro and sour cream on top of each serving and refried beans on the side.

Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Pioneer Woman.

Carnitas Pizza

Another great recipe from The Pioneer Woman - what can I say I really like this cook book! I made the entire amount of meat so we could use the leftovers for tacos - can't every have enough Mexican food leftovers in this house. I used the pineapple juice and it worked out great- gave the meat plenty of juice to cook in and a lot of flavor. I will definitely be making this pizza again!

Carnitas Pizza

Carnitas Pizza

Serves 4-6

ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough (at room temperature)

• 3-4 lb boneless beef chuck roast

• 2 tsp chili powder

• 1 tsp each ground cumin, dried oregano & kosher salt

• 2 Tbsp canola oil

• 24 oz pineapple, papaya, mango juice or beef stock

• Olive oil, for drizzling

• 1 cup tomatillo salsa, plus more for serving

• 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly

• 1 onion & 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced & sauteed
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Sliced jalapenos, Sour Cream & Guacamole for serving (optional)

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300º and move a rack to the lowest section of the oven. Let meat rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to take the chill off before cooking. Mix the spices together in a small bowl with your fingers. Rub the mixture on both sides of the meat.

2. Heat the canola oil in a large dutch oven over high heat. Sear both sides of the meat until browned, about 2 minutes per side. I also seared the sides in addition to the bottom and top because my roast was very thick.

3. Turn off the heat and pour the juice over the top of the meat in the dutch oven. Cover and roast in the oven for 4 hours until the meat is falling apart and tender. Remove from dutch oven and shred, put back in the pot until ready to use. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, saute the onions and peppers and let cool slightly. Once meat is done, increase oven temperature to 450º to cook the pizza. Make sure to let it come to temp before putting pizza in.

4. Roll out the pizza dough until very thin and drizzle a baking sheet with some olive oil. Place dough on the baking sheet. Spread tomatillo sauce all over in a thin layer. Lay the mozzarella slices on top then the pepper & onion mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melty and gooey.

5. Lay the warm meat on top along with some juices from the pot. Sprinkle the green onions on top. Slice and serve with extra salsa, jalapenos, guacamole and sour cream.

I cooked the roast in anticipation of using half the meat for lunches to make tacos so if you want to you can make 2 pizzas with the above list of ingredients or just cut the measurements in half to make one pizza (except the dough).

Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Pioneer Woman

Tasty Chile Rellenos, Refried Beans & Rice

This was our second go around to try to make authentic Chile Rellenos at home and it was a success! When we told Quinton's dad that our first attempt at trying to make them he sent us a recipe from Debbie Lackey and it was great! I also made some crock pot beans that have the same consistency as refried beans and basic rice mixed with some green chile sauce. I concocted a green chile sauce from one can of Hatch Green chile sauce, onion, garlic and chopped green chiles. It was a great meal. I reduced the original recipe to make enough for 4 rellenos since it was just the two of us.

Chile Rellenos

Serves 2

Chiles stuffed with Cheese

Green Chile Sauce

 

Chile Rellenos, Green Chile Sauce, Refried Beans & Rice

ingredients

• 4 green chiles, roasted & peeled

• 1/2- 3/4 cup combination of pepper jack & cheddar cheese, shredded

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 T sugar

• 1 t baking powder

• 1/2 t salt

• 2 eggs

• 3/4 cup milk

• Green chile sauce

• refried beans and rice

directions

1. Heat 1-2" of canola oil in a deep cast iron skillet until oil gets hot, turn heat down to medium high.

2. Cut a small slit in each chile and gently stuff with the cheese. We left the stems on and the seeds in.

3. Prepare the batter by whisking the eggs and then adding the next 6 ingredients together in a bowl. This should be the same consistency as pancake batter.

4. Dip each stuffed chile in the batter and coat thoroughly, tap gently on side of bowl to get rid of excess batter.

5. Drop a dollop of batter in the oil - if it floats the oil is ready for cookin!

6. Gently put chiles in oil and brown on one side then turn over and brown the other side. Drain on a paper towel lined plate and EAT EM UP!

I served some green chile sauce on top of each with rice & beans on the side. They were so good, I'm ready to make them again. Q was so happy while we were eating and kept saying how these reminded him of back home - that made me happy tooooooo!

Enjoy!

This recipe adapted from Debbie Lackey.