Tuesday, August 16, 2011

White Chicken Enchiladas

Well, here I am in my first real, live, blog post. It's weird. Where do I start? What do I say? Will anyone read this? Well, probably not, but I suppose we'll see.


Tonight after a crazy day at work, I ventured home to decide what I could scavenge for dinner. I knew my boyfriend, Jason, would not be home for dinner, so I made a quick trip to the store to get some ingredients to make The Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Enchiladas!


Here are your ingredients! (Minus of course, the butter, paprika, salt, pepper, oil, and cheddar cheese, you know, just a couple things I missed)

First step for me was to take the rotisserie chicken that I bought in lieu of cooking raw chicken. I'm lazy, what can I say? I just shredded the chicken with two forks in a bowl.

I may have eaten 1 or 2 bites of chicken. Or 5. Sometimes things happen that you can't control and eating warm, fresh rotisserie chicken is one of those things.



Next, go ahead and chop up an onion. I am mildly chopping/dicing/using a knife impaired, but I did my best.


There is a good chance that my eyes got super burn-y from the onion juice/fumes. There are some tricks to making that not happen, I just don't really know what they are. Here is me and my burn-y eye face. It was captured by accident and made me giggle. Please ignore the copious amounts of crap on the counter behind me. I am a messy cooker.

Next, it's time to get out those tortillas and start frying them up in some vegetable oil. You just want to fry them to get them soft, not deliciously fried and crunchy. Those are tortillas for another day, my friend.

Get the 2 tbsp oil nice and hot before you drop in your first tortilla

After a few seconds, flip it. If it starts getting all puffy or brown or crunchy that is a sign you should get that fella out of the pan, stat.



Don't think that you can leave it in there while you run around like crazy and try to find some tongs to get the tortilla out of the pan. Don't also try to find where you left the camera after taking your last picture. Otherwise, your fire alarm might start going off and you have to turn on the fan and find a chair to take down the fire alarm. And then throw a poor helpless tortilla in the sink because it was burning. Not that I know these things from experience or anything.



Take the tortillas out of the pan and then put them on a stack of paper towels to drain the oil from them.

Good ol' Pdub gets fancy with chopping up some fresh jalapeno and slicing her own green chilies. I was too tired to get into those shenanigans. I popped open a couple cans of those babies pre-chopped and was ready to get to the next step.

Add about 1 teaspoon of diced jalapenos and the chopped onion in a large skillet with about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Let it cook for about 1 minute before adding in the chicken, half of the green chilies, and 1/2 tsp of paprika. Stir it all together.

Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and stir, then add the 1/2 cup heavy cream and stir. Let it get all delightful and bubbly and then remove it from heat.


In another medium skillet, melt your 2 tablespoons of butter and then sprinkle in the 2 tablespoons of flour all while whisking your little heart out for about 1 minute. Pour in 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, whisk, and let it simmer for another 1-2 minutes.


Stir in the other half of the chilies, then add in the creamy goodness of 1 cup of sour cream.



Perhaps something might happen beyond your control and you fling the spatula that you used to get the sour cream out of the measuring cup all over your favorite shirt and pants, and then finally ends it's descent to the floor.


Merlin was pretty excited.
Anyway, do some more whisking to combine all of your sauce ingredients.


It will get all fancy and bubbly and you will be so excited to add in your cheese! Mmmm...I love cheese. I added about 1 1/2 cups if Mexican blend cheese (without the seasonings, I can't get down with that). Then add in another 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.


Take your nice, soft, tortillas and fill them up with your delicious chicken filling and then top with your favorite cheese (I used sharp cheddar)! Roll them up and lay them in a 9x13 pan.



Cover your tasty enchiladas with your fancy, cheesy, creamy, gooey, green chilie-y sauce.


Then layer more shredded cheese! I used the remaining 1/2 cup of Mexican cheese from the sauce on top and a little sprinkle of cheddar, just to add some more flavor.
Stick those babies in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.


Look at that golden cheese. Perfect.

Plate'r up and drizzle from salsa on top. You can also add some chopped cilantro on top of that's what your floats your boat, but I am not a big fan of that stuff. Small doses, maybe. But I wasn't feeling it today.



This, ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between, is what you should be having for dinner. Or lunch leftovers. Just make it happen. It's good stuff!

White Chicken Enchiladas
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:
  • 2 1/2 c. shredded, cooked chicken
  • 2 c. chicken broth
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 12 whole flour tortillas (fajita size)
  • 1 large white onion, diced
  • 1 7oz. can of diced green chilies
  • 1 4 oz. can of diced jalapenos
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 c. heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 2 cups Mexican blend cheese, shredded
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • Salsa (optional)
  • Cilantro (optional)

Instructions:

1. Shred a rotisserie chicken with two forks in a large bowl until you have approximately 2 1/2 cups of chicken.
2. Dice up one large onion.
3. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or whatever your favorite oil is) and fry each tortilla until it is soft (about 20 seconds or less). Do not let these get crunchy! Pile on a clean kitchen towel or a stack of paper towels to drain some of the oil.
4. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and add about 1 teaspoon of diced jalapenos and the diced onion. Cook for about 1 minute.
5. Add in about half the can of green chilies, the chicken, and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika and stir to combine.
6. Add in 1/2 cup of chicken broth and stir, then add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and stir. Continue to cook until mix gets warm and bubbly, then turn off the heat.
7. In another medium skillet, melt the butter and add in 2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk together and allow to cook for about a minute (be careful, it might get clumpy and it's really easy to burn!). Add in 2 cups of chicken broth and continue to whisk. Let mixture simmer for 1-2 minutes, continuing to whisk.
8. Turn down the heat and add in the rest of the green chilies and another 1/2 -1 teaspoon diced jalapeno (depends on how spicy you like your enchiladas!:-) ). Add in the sour cream and whisk everything together.
9. Add in 2 cups of cheese to the sauce and whisk to combine. Add in another 1/2 teaspoon of paprika. Taste your sauce and add as much salt and pepper as you desire.
10. Take a tortilla and fill with the chicken mixture (don't overfill!) and top with some cheese (I used cheddar). Add each enchilada to the 9x13 pan.
11. Cover your enchiladas with the cheese sauce. If you like (which I did) you can use a little more cheese on top to give it some extra cheesy goodness.
12. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Try to let it sit for a few minutes before you serve so you don't burn your mouth. But if you can't wait, it's okay, I don't blame you. I couldn't either! You can sprinkle on some cilantro if that is the type of thing you like and/or spoon on a little salsa. Enjoy!


Thanks for reading my first post, hope you check back soon!

<3,
Carly
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