Enchiladas

Previously, I blogged about making salsa (post titled, "Easy on the Habaneros...").  My adventures left me with about a half-gallon of salsa.  Oh, boy.  I wound up finding an enchilada recipe to use up some of it.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
2 chicken breasts
2 tsp cumin
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C homemade salsa*
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
3 Tbsp ketchup
Olive Oil
1 package wheat tortillas**
1 lb shredded cheese

Begin by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and cumin, and cooking them in a pan with about 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Allow to cool, and then shred the meat by scraping/pulling it with forks.

Sauté the onion and garlic in the same pan you used to cook the chicken (mmm, flavor!).  Remove the pan from the heat and add the salsa, canned tomatoes, and ketchup.  A quick note:  if you're using salsa made with vinegar, skip the ketchup and use tomato paste.  You may even need to add a bit of sugar to counter the acidity of the vinegar.  Using ketchup adds a bit of tangy-ness and acidity.  If the resulting sauce seems thick, add about 1 C water.  Stir everything and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9x13-inch pan with about 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Take 1 tortilla, cover about 2/3 of it with cheese and the shredded chicken, roll it up, and place it in greased pan, seam-side down.  Repeat until you have filled the pan.  (You should use about half the cheese for this.)  Pour the sauce over the tortillas.  They should be mostly covered; if not, add a bit of water to stretch the sauce.  Cover the pan with the remaining cheese, and bake the enchiladas until the cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream and cilantro.



Some more Notes:
*I highly recommend using the drunken salsa recipe I blogged about previously.  Not only is it vinegar-free, but the beer flavor gives the enchiladas a little extra something.  For me, it was what made this recipe a keeper.

**I used wheat tortillas, because that's what my family likes.  The original recipe called for corn tortillas, which are generally what one uses when making enchiladas.  Apparently they're a bit tougher to work with, and need to be lightly warmed prior to use-- put a bit of oil in a pan over medium heat, place the corn tortilla in there for about 30 seconds, and repeat for all tortillas prior to filling and rolling.  I suppose you could do this for wheat tortillas, too, to bring out the flavor of the wheat, but it's not necessary.

One last fun fact: What most people call cilantro is actually coriander leaves.  It is distinct from, but similar in flavor to, culantro.  We garnished our enchiladas with the latter, which has a stronger flavor.  Culantro is native to Mexico, widely used in Thai food, and makes a better marinade ingredient than a garnish (we discovered) because the leaves are barbed.