Welcome! This is my first post on my kitchen and/or crafty blog . . . I'm not entirely sure what this will turn into. For now, it is a place for me to keep my recipes and such, since I tend to lose my cookbooks. No, I didn't say marbles, though that may be applicable at times, as well.
In particular, I will be putting up recipes from my Livre des Recettes (Book of Recipes). Yes, I know that is incorrect--it should be Le Livre de Recettes--but I was still quite new to speaking French, and the title has remained what it is. Oh well. This is a book I started as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I purchased it in Brussels in 2001, and I started collecting recipes from my companions, fellow missionaries, locals, etc. I will try to give credit where credit is due, though I tend to tweak my recipes, and I'm not one to measure exactly. To me, that's one of the beauties of kitchen chemistry--the ratios can be off a little, and you can still get great results. Maybe that's why I hated Organic Chemistry Lab so much . . . you can't just add a dash of isopropanol and expect your mass spectrometer to give you a perfect reading. But in cooking, I'm only slightly opposed to ethanol (I feel a little guilty!). And an oven is much more forgiving than gas chromatography. I'm just sayin'.
To this day, my Livre des Recettes is the book I use most for my cooking. I haven't made everything in it yet, but it contains some great stuff--time tested and Mary-approved.
And now, my disclaimer: this is not a blog for healthy eating, gluten-free living, weight loss, etc. It's just me, a night owl, science nerd and halfway-decent cook, passing on some knowledge and some good eats. Thanks for reading, and bon appétit !
Monday, June 25, 2012
Chicken Enchiladas
I wish I could come up with more creative titles for these posts, but since this is a cooking blog, and the goal of it is functionality (i.e., to find a recipe via internet when I need it!), I'll try to keep it simple.
Chicken enchiladas are one of my specialties: they are SO EASY, creamy and delicious. I have based it on a recipe from Michelle Porter Nylander, a respiratory therapist who contributed this recipe to a book put together when I worked in the RTU at Primary Children's (circa 2004). There are several recipes for enchiladas in that cookbook, but this one was the best, and I think my tweaks have made it even better. The recipe:
Chicken Enchiladas
1 lb chicken breast cooked and shredded/cubed
1 cup sour cream
1 small can diced green chiles
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese
8-10 flour tortillas
Mix soup, sour cream, green chiles, and 3/4 cup of cheese in a medium bowl. Add chicken and mix well. Spoon the chicken mixture into tortillas and roll. Place close together in a glass baking dish coated with nonstick spray. Pour enchilada sauce on top, then sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
That's the basic recipe. Once again, I usually double this because it's just easier to do with a whole rotisserie chicken. Once you shred the meat on the chicken, you have a perfect amount for a double recipe. I really like the savory chicken from Smith's (Kroger), but really--any chicken will do, but stay away from funky flavorings (like lemon or barbecue). Costco's is great and cheap, but make sure you use it the same day you purchase it. Trying to shred cooked chicken that has been in the fridge is not ideal. Ask me how I know.
So I will usually use one whole rotisserie chicken, 2 cups of sour cream, 1 large can of chiles (I like the mild, but if you prefer more heat--get the hot ones, or even jalapeños), 2 cans of soup, one large can (around 30 oz) of enchilada sauce, 2 cups of cheese and 20-25 tortillas. The large can of enchilada sauce goes a long way; you don't have to use it all. I definitely prefer a green sauce over a red sauce; I think it has better flavor. I don't always use mozzarella; you could use a jack (I bet a pepper jack would be great!), colby, cheddar, whatever. I can be a cheese snob, but since the cheese is not the star of the show here, I'll just use whatever I have on hand. I also prefer to bake these in glass casserole dishes (9"x13" or so), and giving them a quick spray with nonstick Pam (or the like) will make clean-up a lot easier. I have tried covering the pans, baking for 15 minutes, then removing the foil and baking for another 5 minutes or so (until the cheese browns), but I didn't see much difference between the taste or consistency of the enchiladas, and the covered ones took significantly longer to brown. So just don't bother with it. If you feel like adding spices, some pepper and/or cumin would be awesome. Skip the salt--there's plenty of it in the soup and the chicken.
If you wanted to stretch the filling even further, you could add cooked rice or beans to the chicken mixture and get around 40 enchiladas out of it. Also, you can use reduced-fat sour cream and/or soup to make it a bit more diet-friendly. I do NOT recommend low-fat cheese--it doesn't melt nicely, and it always leaves me feeling jipped.
I hope you try this! Let me know if you like it!
Chicken enchiladas are one of my specialties: they are SO EASY, creamy and delicious. I have based it on a recipe from Michelle Porter Nylander, a respiratory therapist who contributed this recipe to a book put together when I worked in the RTU at Primary Children's (circa 2004). There are several recipes for enchiladas in that cookbook, but this one was the best, and I think my tweaks have made it even better. The recipe:
Chicken Enchiladas
1 lb chicken breast cooked and shredded/cubed
1 cup sour cream
1 small can diced green chiles
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese
8-10 flour tortillas
Mix soup, sour cream, green chiles, and 3/4 cup of cheese in a medium bowl. Add chicken and mix well. Spoon the chicken mixture into tortillas and roll. Place close together in a glass baking dish coated with nonstick spray. Pour enchilada sauce on top, then sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
That's the basic recipe. Once again, I usually double this because it's just easier to do with a whole rotisserie chicken. Once you shred the meat on the chicken, you have a perfect amount for a double recipe. I really like the savory chicken from Smith's (Kroger), but really--any chicken will do, but stay away from funky flavorings (like lemon or barbecue). Costco's is great and cheap, but make sure you use it the same day you purchase it. Trying to shred cooked chicken that has been in the fridge is not ideal. Ask me how I know.
So I will usually use one whole rotisserie chicken, 2 cups of sour cream, 1 large can of chiles (I like the mild, but if you prefer more heat--get the hot ones, or even jalapeños), 2 cans of soup, one large can (around 30 oz) of enchilada sauce, 2 cups of cheese and 20-25 tortillas. The large can of enchilada sauce goes a long way; you don't have to use it all. I definitely prefer a green sauce over a red sauce; I think it has better flavor. I don't always use mozzarella; you could use a jack (I bet a pepper jack would be great!), colby, cheddar, whatever. I can be a cheese snob, but since the cheese is not the star of the show here, I'll just use whatever I have on hand. I also prefer to bake these in glass casserole dishes (9"x13" or so), and giving them a quick spray with nonstick Pam (or the like) will make clean-up a lot easier. I have tried covering the pans, baking for 15 minutes, then removing the foil and baking for another 5 minutes or so (until the cheese browns), but I didn't see much difference between the taste or consistency of the enchiladas, and the covered ones took significantly longer to brown. So just don't bother with it. If you feel like adding spices, some pepper and/or cumin would be awesome. Skip the salt--there's plenty of it in the soup and the chicken.
If you wanted to stretch the filling even further, you could add cooked rice or beans to the chicken mixture and get around 40 enchiladas out of it. Also, you can use reduced-fat sour cream and/or soup to make it a bit more diet-friendly. I do NOT recommend low-fat cheese--it doesn't melt nicely, and it always leaves me feeling jipped.
I hope you try this! Let me know if you like it!
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