Suzanne's Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe from a rockstar woman I love, and who makes the best enchiladas around. Terrified of the enchilada, but willing to mount an attack, I emailed her for the recipe. I give her directions and then a few modifications/comments of my own in italics following each step. I doubled the recipe and made two pans of enchiladas, hence the larger proportions, but they fed an army and turned out wonderfully. What a coup.

Suzanne's Directions:

1. Start by cooking some rice (you'll need about 1.5 cups, but anything between .75 to 2 cups is probably fine. You can also skip the rice.

I used 2 cups cooked brown rice. I think the brown rice gives a deeper/healthier impression.

2. Cut up chicken breast in to bite size pieces and cook in a pan on the stove (you can also get 1-2 precooked whole cooked chickens and tear the meat up into pieces).

I cooked five chicken breasts by boiling them in water and apple cider vinegar with a bit of salt in a large skillet on the stove. After cooking I chopped/shredded the chicken into large bite size pieces.

3. Add about 2 cans of tomato sauce (or one really big can) and nearly a whole can of red enchilada sauce, saving 1/3 cup or so to put on the top (I usually use Rosarita, but anything would work.)

I used 2 cans of Ortega medium red enchilada sauce, one larger can of tomato sauce, and maybe another can's worth of tomato puree that I had in the fridge. These enchiladas were a little drier than most, but I like them better that way. Leaving some for the top is definitely wise.

4. Add the rice to the mix (meaning chicken/sauce mix)

5. Add a lot of shredded cheese (uh...maybe 3/4 cup each of cheddar and mozzerella?)

I used sharp cheddar and white monterrey jack, grating an entire small block of each. The net amount of shredded cheese was probably around 3 cups. I saved a little cheese out to put on top of the enchiladas.

5. Now add more sauce until it's a bit runny (if it's thick, the enchiladas will be more like burritos!)

6. Stir up the mix of sauces with chicken, rice, and cheese.

7. Coat a pyrex dish (size 13 x 9 is good, but anything would probably work) with cooking spray.

8. Put a dollup (2/3 cup?) of mix on a flour (wheat!) tortilla, roll the tortilla up, put it in the dish. Repeat until the dish is full of enchiladas. (My dish fit eight enchiladas.) Leave space between each enchilada so some sauce can get in there and so they will separate more easily.

9. On the top of the enchiladas, add: left over mix, left over enchilada sauce, and extra cheese.

Janie and I also cut up a bunch of fresh cilantro and put it on top with the sauce and cheese and chicken and it was delicious! I would put some cilantro inside even, also we added chopped onion to the chicken/rice/sauce mix.

10. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly hot and browning on top. You can also refrigerate before cooking, and just cook a bit longer (40 minutes?) Serve hot with sour cream or guacamole on top.

So good. MMMMMMMMM.