Chicken Enchiladas Suizas

Make the chicken filling. You can use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken for this recipe or bake a couple of chicken breasts like I did. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pat chicken breasts dry with a paper towel, salt and pepper both sides. Grease a baking dish with vegetable or olive oil. Place the chicken in the baking dish, spray or rub with oil, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes or until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Allow to cool enough to handle, shred and set aside.

Slice the pasilla chili down one side and remove the seeds and membranes. Add the chili to a small bowl of water to rehydrate it. Allow it to soak for 10 minutes. Then dice the pasilla and set aside.

In a medium skillet on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Next add half of a sliced yellow onion and 1 minced garlic clove. Saute for 3-4 minutes then add in the diced pasilla chili, 1 chopped Roma tomato, 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 1 1/4 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a low boil then simmer for 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder and 1/8 of a teaspoon of ground cumin. Stir until combined. Next add in cooked shredded chicken. Stir and allow to simmer for 5 more minutes, remove from heat and set aside. The chicken filling is now done, on to the sauce!

In a medium skillet, heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, 1/3 cup of diced Anaheim pepper, 1/2 of an onion sliced into half-moons and 1 minced garlic clove. Sauté until softened. Next add in 2 cups of chicken broth and set aside.

Preheat oven to broil. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place 2 poblano peppers on the baking sheet. Broil for a few minutes or until poblanos start to char and bubble, turn over and broil the other side. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Then place the peppers in a bag for 12-15 minutes so that they will be easier to peel and remove their outer skin. After the time, peel the peppers, remove seeds, stems and membranes. Rough chop the poblano peppers and place them into a blender.

Remove the outer husk of the tomatillo and scrub off the sticky residue. Roughly chop the tomatillo and place it in the blender with the poblano peppers. Rough chop the cilantro and place it in the blender also. Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to the blender and blend all of its contents until smooth.

Add the blended ingredients from the blender to the onion, Anaheim and chicken broth mixture. Stir until combined. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon of cumin, stirring until combined. Sauce is almost done!

In a small saucepan add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 1/3 cup of flour over medium heat, making a roux. Once the roux is light brown remove it from the heat and pour the roux into the sauce.

Once sauce has thickened, 1-2 minutes remove from heat. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If using store bought tortillas, lightly fry them in a skillet with a little bit of oil before rolling the enchiladas. In the photo I used my Easy Homemade Corn Tortillas. Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, placing the seam side down in the baking dish. Ladle sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with both cheeses. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until filling is hot and cheese is melted.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with sour cream. Enjoy!