This is a tangy and fresh version of enchiladas. The sauce is delicious and the star of the recipe. You could easily tweak this a bit and use several different peppers. Fire roasting the peppers and tomatillos would be a nice smokey touch as well.
A couple of notes:
- You could easily replace chicken with whatever you have available, this would be delicious with roasted and pulled pork or some well seasoned black beans as a filling. The chicken is good, but it is not the star.
- I made this using my Immerssion Circulator. I cooked the chicken and vegetables in seperate bags at 162.5 for about 1.5 hours, once the chicken is cooked through,turn up the temp to 185 for another 30-45 minutes to get the vegetables nice and soft. This makes the recipe mostly hands off until you start assembly.
Description
The tangy, silky sauce lavished on this Mexico City staple is a standout.
Makes
:4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts trimmed and cut lengthwise into thirds
- 2 Cloves Garlic peeled
- 2 ea. Bay Leaves
- ³/₄ Tablespoon Salt
- ¹/₄ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 3 ea. Serrano Chiles stemmed
- 1 ea. White Onion peeled
- 1 lb Tomatillo husks and stems removed, rinsed well
- 2 Cloves Garlic peeled
- ²/₃ Cup Cilantro coarsely chopped
- ³/₄ Teaspoon Sugar
- ¹/₂ Teaspoon Salt
- ¹/₂ Cup Crema
- ¹/₃ Cup Vegetable Oil for frying
- 8 ea. Corn Tortillas 6-inch
- ¹/₂ Teaspoon Oregano
- 4 oz Monterey Jack Cheese shredded (1 cup)
- Cilantro
- Radish
- Cotjia Cheese
Instructions
Chicken
Step: 1
Bring 2½ cups water, chicken, garlic, bay leaves, salt, and peppercorns to simmer in medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain simmer and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer chicken to bowl and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes (strain broth and reserve for other use). Shred chicken into ½-inch pieces.
Sauce
Step: 2
Cut 1 serrano in half lengthwise and scrape out seeds. Transfer serrano halves to medium saucepan along with remaining 2 whole serranos. Halve onion. Cut one ½-inch-thick slice from 1 onion half; add to saucepan with serranos. Finely chop remaining onion half and set aside for serving. Add tomatillos and garlic to saucepan. Add water to cover vegetables and bring to gentle simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to maintain very gentle simmer and cook until tomatillos are very tender, about 20 minutes.
Step: 3
Using slotted spoon, transfer onion, garlic, serranos, and one-quarter of tomatillos to blender. Add cilantro, sugar, and salt and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Add remaining tomatillos (discard cooking water) and crema and blend until smooth, 45 to 60 seconds.
Enchiladas
Step: 4
Line rimmed baking sheet with double layer of paper towels. Heat oil in 10-inch ovensafe skillet over medium heat to 325 degrees. Using tongs, place 1 tortilla in skillet and fry for 5 seconds. Flip tortilla and continue to cook until it is puffed in spots but not browned, 4 to 6 seconds longer. Transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Place double layer of paper towels over tortillas and press to absorb excess oil. Discard oil and wipe out skillet.
Step: 5
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Add oregano to chicken and toss to combine. Season with pepper to taste. Spread ¼ cup sauce across bottom of now-empty skillet.
Step: 6
Place ¼ cup chicken over lower third of 1 tortilla. Roll tortilla tightly around filling and place seam side down in skillet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. (Arrange 6 enchiladas down center of skillet and one on each side). Spread ⅓ cup sauce evenly over enchiladas. Sprinkle Monterey Jack evenly over sauce. Bake until cheese is melted and filling is heated through (internal temperature should be between 135 and 140 degrees), about 12 minutes.
Step: 7
While enchiladas bake, transfer remaining sauce to saucepan and bring to gentle simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Divide sauce evenly among 4 shallow bowls. Arrange 2 enchiladas in each bowl, over sauce. Garnish enchiladas with cilantro, radish, cotija, and reserved chopped onion. Serve immediately.