Tomatillo Chicken Enchiladas

I went grocery shopping at on Beaver Ruin Road looking for ingredients to make authentic tomatillo chicken enchiladas for dinner. I was not disappointed. What a great place for truly authentic Mexican ingredients—and so reasonably priced. This is not a hot spicy dish but it is very flavorful.

Chicken Enchiladas

Four cups shredded cooked chicken

Four cups shredded Chihuahua cheese (white cheese similar to Monterey Jack)

One (4 oz) can chopped green chilies

One and half tsp Mexican oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

Vegetable oil

Around 12 or so corn tortillas depending on the size

One cup crema (similar to sour cream)

Zest of one lime & juice of one lime

Chopped cilantro and lime wedges for garnish

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix chicken, two cups cheese, chilies and oregano in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. In a cast iron skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Cook tortillas one at a time turning once, just until limp. Drain on paper towels.

While tortillas are warm, spoon about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of chicken mixture down the center of each, then roll tortillas to form the enchilada. Set enchilada, seam side down, in a greased baking dish about 9 by 13 by 2 inches. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes or until hot in the center. Remove foil and cover with remaining 2 cups of cheese. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes until cheese melts.

While enchiladas are baking make the lime crema. Mix the crema with the lime zest and lime juice.

To serve, spoon warm tomatillo sauce onto each plate, set enchiladas on top of the sauce, then spoon lime crema on top and garnish with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.

Tomatillo Sauce

One-third cup vegetable oil

Two medium onions, diced

Two (4 oz) cans of diced green chilies

 One c chicken broth

One (28 oz) can of whole tomatillos drained

Three Tbsp lime juice

 Two tsp dried Mexican oregano

One tsp cumin

Salt, to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in a four-quart sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook stirring often, until soft, about 10 minutes.

Stir in green chilies, chicken broth, tomatillos, lime juice, oregano and cumin. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, pressing the back of the spoon to smash the tomatillos on the side of the pan, for 25 minutes.

You can use an immersion blender to chopped the tomatillos into smaller chunks. Season with salt.