Enchiladas Verdes

wipes cobwebs off of computer screen....

Has it really been over a month since my last entry??? Slaps wrist. Bad food blogger!

Work kind of kicked my butt towards the end of the school year. The higher-ups decided to change lots of things around on us, and we scrambled around furiously to accommodate. Plus, a constantly teething baby left me exhausted at night. Anyway, I have just under two months of summer break, and have lots of fun stuff planned.

Today was Father's Day, and hubs celebrated his first. He requested enchiladas, and since we had already tried a red sauce, I decided to go with a recipe using a green sauce. Luckily, Rick Bayless had just the thing. I loved how the sauce turned a vibrant green. The poblano chiles I used were unusually strong - the sauce had more than a little kick, and my hand burned after handling the roasted chiles. A dousing in vinegar, followed by a soapy wash, then a dousing in alchohol followed by another soapy wash took the burn away.

The enchiladas were totally worth the burning hand.


Enchiladas Verdes
Adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe
As seen on rickbayless.com

1.25 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 fresh poblano chiles
1.5 cup (lightly packed) roughly chopped spinach leaves
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
5 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup flour
Salt
12 corn tortillas
A little vegetable oil for brushing or spraying
About 1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
Chopped cilantro

Place chicken in a medium pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from heat, shred with a fork, and set aside.

Roast the poblanos on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler, turning regularly, until the skins have blistered and blackened on all side, about 10 minutes under the broiler. Place in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel for 10 minutes. Peel off the blackened skin, tear open and pull out the seed pod and stem (wear gloves). Quickly rinse to remove any stray seeds or bits of skin. Roughly chop and put in a blender. Add the spinach.

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and broth, set over medium-low heat to warm.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a minute to release its aroma, then add the flour and stir the mixture for a minute. Raise the heat to medium-high. Pour in the warm broth mixture and whisk constantly until the sauce boils. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Pour half the hot sauce into the blender with the chiles and spinach. Secure the lid, remove the center part, and cover loosely with a cloth. Blend until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining sauce. Taste and season with salt, usually about 2 teaspoons.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Smear about 1/4 cup of the sauce over the bottom of each of four to six 9-inch individual ovenproof baking/serving dishes or smear about 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish. Stir 1 cup of the sauce into the chicken.

Lay half of the tortillas out on a baking sheet and lightly brush or spray both sides of the tortillas with oil; top each tortilla with another one and brush or spray those with oil. Bake just to warm through and soften, about 3 minutes. Stack the tortillas and cover with a towel to keep warm.

Working quickly, roll a portion of the chicken up in each tortilla, then line them all up in the baking dish(es). Douse evenly with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the enchiladas are hot through (the cheese will have begun to brown), about 20 minutes. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.