Chicken Enchiladas

I hope everybody had a great holiday season! I am not much of a "Holiday" cook, so I took some time off from blogging :) Now that the holidays are over, I feel good posting a recipe in my favorite style: Mexican! This recipe can be made from what are normal pantry staples along with a few fresh ingredients, making it a great weeknight meal - unlike some "traditional" Mexican dishes, which require a visit to a Latino grocery store and two hours of prep work!

Ingredients

For the Enchilada Sauce

• 1 can (14 ounces) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (14 ounces) plain tomato sauce
• 1 can (7 ounces) diced green chiles (mild or hot, your choice)
• 1 small onion, cut into quarters
• 1 fresh jalepeno chile (remove the ribs and seeds for a milder flavor)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 canned chipotle chiles (optional - they give the sauce a subtle, smokey heat)
• 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro, thick and leafless stems trimmed off

Other Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon each cumin and coriander seeds, toasted, cooled, and crushed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 lemon, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (or just Cheddar and/or Monterrey Jack cheeses)
• 12 medium (or "enchilada size) flour tortillas
• Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken breasts in a large saucepan with the cumin, coriander, salt, and lemon. Add enough water to cover everything. Bring to a boil and gently simmer over low heat, covered, for 8-12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Meanwhile (while the chicken is cooking), put all the Enchilada sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse 10-15 times until smooth. When the chicken is cooked, turn off the heat, remove the chicken from the liquid and shred into bite-sized pieces with forks. Discard the cooking liquid, or strain and use as you would chicken broth (although it might be a little too salty, depending on how much water you added). In a large mixing bowl, add the shredded chicken, half of the sauce and half the cheese. Stir to combine.

Spray a large baking dish with nonstick spray. Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 30-60 seconds. Place about a 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in a line across the middle of a tortilla and roll it up. Put the enchilada seam-side down in the baking dish and repeat with remaining tortillas, packing them in as snugly as possible (you may have to experiment with the exact layout depending on the size of your tortillas and the dimensions of your baking dish). Spread the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is bubbly. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Ground Beef Assistor

There are a wide variety of products out there that help you turn plain ground beef (or whatever) into a complete meal by providing the extra ingredients and seasonings needed. I am not a fan of these products, because a well-stocked pantry should have pretty much everything you need to make beefy-macaroni casserole. I came up with this recipe off the top of my head 10 minutes after I got home from work one day last week and it was probably the tastiest thing I've had in a while.

BTW: Feel free to notice how carefully I've avoided the use of any trademarked names or phrases in this post!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 can (14 ounces) plain tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 2 cups dried macaroni pasta (small shells, elbows, etc.)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (topping)

Directions

Brown the beef, onion, celery, and bell peppers together in a dutch oven or large, heavy skillet. Add all remaining ingredients except the cheese. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked. Put into serving bowls and sprinkle with the cheese. Makes about 12 servings and is great the next day heated in the microwave.

Note: Depending on how much liquid was in the tomatoes (and how moist the veggies were), you may need to add more water to allow the pasta to cook. Ideally, the stew should thicken up so there is very little liquid in it just as the pasta cooks completely. You may need to add 1/2 cup of water once or twice during cooking if the stew sets up while the pasta is still crunchy.

Shepherd's Pie

Although lamb is the traditional meat for this dish, I use lean ground beef because it's quite a bit easier to come by. Sauteeing the mushrooms and onions separate from the beef gives the stew a deep, rich flavor, without toughening the meat (which can happen if you brown it too long).

Ingredients

• kosher salt
• 4 russet potatoes, cleaned, optionally peeled, and cut in half crosswise (so they are as spherical as possible)
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 ounces) plain tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
• spice mixture - grind together in a spice mill or coffee grinder
  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
  • 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flake
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Put the potatoes into a large pot and cover with 2-4 inches of cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per 2 quarts of water in the pot. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 15-25 minutes, or until a paring knife slides through without much resistance (do not overcook so they start to fall apart). Drain and mash -

Meanwhile, put the beef into a large dutch oven over medium low heat with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Gently cook the meat until it is no longer pink, stirring frequently - you are not trying to deeply brown the meat, just remove it's raw red color. Pour the meat into a large bowl and set aside.

If there is not 2-3 tablespoons of grease leftover from the beef in the dutch oven, add 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and heat over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and mushrooms with 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt for 5 minutes, until the onions have softened and started to brown. Add the garlic and saute one more minute, until the garlic is fragrant and lost its raw bite. Deglaze the pot with the canned tomtaoes. Add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Balsamic vinegar, spice mixture, and cooked beef. Stir well to combine. Gently fold in the bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes and uncovered for 10, gently stirring occasionally.

Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the stew from heat and fish out the bay leaves. Stir in the lemon juice. Spoon on the mashed potatoes and smooth into an even layer on top. Sprinkle on all of the cheese and put under the broiler for 1-3 minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble. Serve immediately

We plate the 3A's their portion, then top our portions with cheese.