Chicken and Apricot Enchiladas

They take a bit of time to prepare, but enchiladas give you warmth and comfort on a cool fall day. As always, I use refrigerator and pantry staples and leftover bits of vegetables. Here's a post on enchiladas from a few years ago, and I see that my comments about always using black beans is actually not true. 

Ingredients: 

For last night's enchildas, I used a chicken breast (poached and shredded), goat cheese, leftover cooked spinach and 3 dried apricots for each enchilada. You could of course substitute Mexican cheese or Monterey Jack for the goat cheese and add black, pinto or Great Northern beans in addition to the chicken. Sometimes I also add a tablespoon of chipolte chiles in adobo sauce for smoky heat.

Sauce: 

My sauce consists of a roux with 3 tablespoons of flour and about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of chicken stock along with a canned of chopped green chilies and a few tablespoons of salsa. When I use flour tortillas, as I did last night, I don't bother to warm the tortillas or dip them in the sauce because they are plenty pliable as is.

Assembly: 

Once I have all the ingredients on hand, I create a mini assembly line, placing the fillings on one side of the tortilla. Assembling the enchiladas all at the same time before rolling them up allows me to adjust the fillings so each tortilla contains the same amount. 

Cooking: 

Before rolling up the enchiladas, spoon a few large tablespoons of sauce onto the bottom and sides of the baking dish to help keep the enchiladas from sticking to the pan. Begin rolling from the side containing the filling; When you get to the end of the tortilla, pull the remaining flap of tortilla up to the top of the roll so you can lift it easily and place it flap-side-down in the baking dish. The tortillas bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes -- covered for soft tops and uncovered about 1/2 way through for a more crispy top.

Last night, the enchiladas rested on a bed of chopped kale and spinach salad mix, topped with sour cream (low fat of course!) and guacamole with pomegranate seeds. Roasted sweet potatoes rounded out the meal.

Enchiladas -- A Go-To Dinner When You Can't Decide What to Cook

Enchiladas are one of my go-to dinners. I always have a can of beans in the cupboard and tortillas in the freezer.

Last night I hadn't even gotten around to thawing the tortillas. I usually skip the step where the recipe says to dip the tortillas in the sauce before adding ingredients and rolling them up, but since the tortillas were frozen, I dipped them and voilà -- they were instantly thawed.

Making enchiladas is somewhat time consuming, but I'm fine with that because I love to be in the kitchen cooking--radio tuned to the local NPR station. I have to say though that Sundays are problematic--I am not a fan of Prairie Home Companion, and would much rather be listening to This American Life or All Things Considered or Fresh Air or The Writers Almanac.

While the ingredients vary, my enchiladas always have beans, usually black, sometimes pinto, in either flour or corn tortillas. Mostly, the filling consists of  beans, chicken and cheese. Other times it's potatoes and cheese (when I have the time to cook a potato ahead of time). I frequently add canned corn and occasionally sliced olives or green onions.

The sauce varies too. Mostly I make a roux and add a can of chopped green chilies and a little salsa. Other times it's tomato sauce and chili powder or chipolte chiles in adobo sauce.

Here's my recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make a roux with 3 tbsp. flour and about 1 1/2 cup or so of chicken or vegetable stock. Add 1 can of chopped green chiles after the roux has thickened ( I like the Old El Paso brand) and about 1/4 cup of salsa.

Spoon 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a glass baking dish.

Dip each tortilla in the sauce and add all or some of the following ingredients to each one: 2 tbsp. beans, 1 tbsp. canned corn, 1 tbsp. cheese, 2 tbsp. shredded chicken and a few chopped green onions or sliced olives. For directions on how to shred chicken, click  here.

Roll up each tortilla, one-by-one, and place seam side down in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the top to thoroughly drench the tortillas. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cover with foil if you like the tops of your enchiladas to stay soft.

Top with sour cream and chopped cilantro.


Into the oven

Last night's salad: chopped orange, red cabbage and sesame-ginger salad dressing.