Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight we had chicken enchiladas, which was not from an established recipe, but from an experiment that turned out well. I had planned to make enchiladas of some sort, though I usually make the traditional  type with a red sauce. However, my daughter wanted something more cheesy and creamy, so I improvised with what we had in the pantry and came up with these. Considering the rate that they disappeared, I would say they were a success!

First slightly brown a pound of boneless chicken breast in a skillet with a tablespoon of oil:

Next add a tablespoon of Adobo sauce, a multi-spice Latin seasoning found in most grocery stores. Let that continue to cook for a few minutes.

Then add a cup of any store-bought salsa to the chicken. I used a generic chunky salsa with medium heat but you could use mild or hot as you like.

Let that continue to cook for a few minutes as well, then add a cup of water, cover, and continue cooking at a low heat. Once the chicken becomes very tender, use a fork or spatula edge to shred the chicken.

If you have excess liquid in the pan, just turn the heat up and cook the chicken uncovered on high for a few minutes so you won't have juice dripping out of your enchiladas as you try to roll them. Once the meat is prepared, set it aside and prepare the tortillas. Use corn tortillas, not flour, or you will end up with a soggy mess.

You will be preparing 10 tortillas and can cook as many at a time that will fit in your skillet or griddle. Use nonstick spray or a small amount of oil on the cooking surface and cook tortillas until they just start to have some golden spots and are more pliable. This is really important because you can't roll an uncooked tortilla or it will break apart.

Once your tortillas are all cooked, you will assemble your enchiladas in a baking pan, size 9 x 13 if you have it. The type of pan, glass, metal, or ceramic, doesn't matter though you should slightly oil the pan so that your enchiladas don't stick to the pan.

Start by putting a large spoonful of your chicken filling in the middle of a tortilla, folding it, then rolling it up.

Once your enchiladas are rolled, place them seam down into the pan in a row. If you don't have enough room, you can always fit more on the sides unless you are making a dish that you want to "look pretty". One

of the biggest tricks to making something like enchiladas, dumplings, or any food with a filling, is judging how much of the filling to put in so that all of the pieces are almost equal in size without having any leftover filling. When I first started doing food with fillings, I would always have some left over. Shredded chicken can be eaten on a sandwich, in a salad, or even a taco, so don't stress out if you have your nice row of

                                                       enchiladas and some filling staring at you from the bowl!









Once your enchiladas are rolled in the pan, you can set them aside and make the sauce. I used Crema Mexicana tonight, a Mexican triple cream that you can find in the cold case with other Mexican cheeses. If

you can't find that, then you can substitute whipping cream. It will be the cream part of the sauce rather than the usual sour cream that some recipes call for.

I used the entire 15 ounce container of cream, putting it into a nonstick saucepan and heating it on low heat. After that, I added a cup of shredded yellow and white cheddar cheeses and allowed them to melt in the cream. I also added a tablespoon of the Adobo sauce for seasoning. After the sauce is smooth and hot, pour it over the enchiladas.

Bake your enchiladas at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and slightly browned.

Serve the enchiladas with any of your favorite toppings such as salsa or hot sauce, chopped green onions, sour cream or guacamole, that is totally up to you, but I ate mine tonight with Sriracha hot sauce and chopped green onions. I only got two out of the pan as the rest disappeared too fast!

This is definitely an adapted dish, more "Tex-Mex" than authentic Mexican, and having eaten plenty of both in the ten years I lived in Texas, I can honestly say that I like it all!