When I made this dish, it inspired me to think of a section of dishes called eezy-peezy, although I try to provide you with recipes that are always that way. Eezy-peezy is really for the 'i don't want to think about it' cook. This is one such dish, and it is full of flavor AND fairly good for you. Actual 'you in the kitchen cooking time' is probably ten minutes, you finish this one in the oven. So you could possibly even call yourself a baker too....Recipe:
12 6" flour tortillas
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup chicken stock
2-16 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced small
6 tbsp chili powder
4 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. salt
3 cups shredded cheese - mexican, cheddar or pepperjack
salt & pepper to taste
Place chicken breasts in saucepan on stove and add chicken stock, cover. Bring stock to boil, then turn down to simmer and poach them for ten minutes. Remove from stove and let rest. At this point I make the enchilada sauce and when that is done and resting I then remove the chicken from the stock and shred the chicken as it has cooled at this point. Set stock aside to be added to enchilada sauce.
Place pan back onto stove over medium heat. Put oil in the pan and when it is hot, add onion. Saute until softened, around 5 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin and cook for an additional minute. Pour in tomato sauce and leftover stock, then simmer for five minutes. Done - you have just made your own enchilada sauce!
Turn the oven to 400 degrees. To the chicken add 1 cup of the sauce, 1 cup cheese and salt then stir to combine. In a 9"X9" baking dish, spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom. Lay three of the tortillas over that (breaking one in half to fit). Place half of the chicken mixture on top, then 1/4 of the enchilada sauce on top. Place another layer of three tortillas, half of of the cheese left over and sprinkle 1/4 sauce. Repeat these two layers sprinkiling last 1/4 of sauce on top. Cover with foil.
Bake foil covered for 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake for10-15 more minutes.
ALTERNATIVELY: You can make these in individual 6" Lodge Cast Iron pans as you see here. This has a phenomenal presentation factor. Bake for 15 minutes covered and 5-10 uncovered.
This recipe looks freakin' awesome! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI was going to make the this recipe but it appears it requires 16 tortillas. Does anyone know? According to directions, it appears to be 4 tortillas on bottom, chicken/sauce filling, 4 tortillas, cheese, 4 tortillas, chicken/sauce filling, then 4 tortillas on top. Is it 3 tortillas instead of 4 for each layer or is there no separate cheese layer?
ReplyDeleteYou are right, it was my error - it does take 16 flour tortillas, not 12. I have changed the recipe. Sorry for the oversight! It's sauce, 4 tortillas on bottom, chicken/sauce filling, 4 tortillas, cheese, 4 tortillas, chicken/sauce filling, then 4 tortillas on top, sauce and cheese.
ReplyDeleteI wrote earlier about the tortilla number. Thanks for the quick clarification. I made the Enchilada Bake last night and it's amazing. I even made my own tortillas (first time). I've made other enchiladas before and the store-bought ones always seem so thick and tough.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe turned out great even though I encountered problems. Realized at last minute didn't have enough chili powder (just threw in what I had), some of the chicken was still pink after poaching (Had to refry in pan). My dish was too shallow so I ended up using only 12 tortillas anyway and made with 3-layers.
Regardless, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to serving to guests at a later date.