Chicken Enchiladas: Anyone who knows me, knows I've been making these for years and has most likely had them at some point in time. If you haven't, well now you can make them yourself. I started doing it in college and have since elaborated on and hopefully perfected the recipe. This is the first time I've actually written it down. It may not be exactly accurate to what I always do, but my best advice is to just taste as you go along. This makes about 20 enchiladas, so if you want less, half it, but they reheat well to eat all week if you can't be assed to cook again.
Here's the recipe:
3 lbs chicken breast (you can mix some thighs in as well-- the dark meat helps keep it moist)
apprx 32 oz of salsa verde
2-3 jalapenos
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1/3 cup sour cream
1 onion (thinly sliced)
2-3 garlic cloves
20 tortillas
1 TBS Chipotle chile powder
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp all spice
3-4 TBS tomato paste
1 TBS honey
1 TBS hot sauce (we used this crazy ghost pepper hot sauce this time-- which was delicious-- and very spicy)
4-6 cups grated cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste.
1.) Put chicken in pot of water with a dash of salt, a few garlic cloves, and a couple slices of the onion. Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is just barely cooked. Don't cook too long or it will get dried out. Remove chicken to cool on plate. Reserve the water with the garlic and onions for later.
2.) In a blender or food processor, blend salsa verde, jalapenos, cilantro, ranch and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3.) Shred chicken with your fingers or a fork, if it's too hot.
4.) Heat oil in a skillet and add the rest of the onion. Cook until soft. 2-4 minutes
5.) Add chicken, tomato paste, honey, and all of the spices, along with all the garlic and some of the water (1/2 cup?) reserved from the pot (this is to keep the chicken from drying out-- add more water if needed-- the chicken should not be too saucy either.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for only a few minutes. turn off heat.
6.) Put a little bit of olive oil in large skillet. Heat to medium high and cook corn tortillas (get the oil on both sides-- just enough to coat lightly-- you should not be frying them in oil), until they are slightly golden. This will keep the tortillas from breaking when you dip them in the sauce and roll them.
7.) Dip cooked tortillas in green sauce to coat. Roll with chicken and a little cheese (they should be fairly full), and place in a large baking dish (You will probably need at least two of these for all the enchiladas.)
8.) Top with any remaining sauce and cheese.
9.) Cook in preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until cheese starts to brown on top.
Megan's Beans: I make several versions of my special beans and each of them is slightly different (black beans, baked beans, refried beans), but they are all spicy and have similar flavor profiles. This is my recipe for refried beans.
Ingredients:
2 40oz cans + 1 16oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (you can start with dried beans if you want-- I can just never see the point when beans come in cans already cooked. Who wants have those extra hours of preparation? Not I.)
4-6 oz pancetta, chopped
2 jalapenos, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
3/4 cup milk or broth (you can always use some of the broth leftover from cooking the chicken, if you're doing these along with the enchiladas)
1-2 tsp pumpkin spice (to taste)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 TBS liquid smoke
1 TBS hot sauce
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (optional)
Directions:
1.) Heat oil in large deep skillet or wok. Add pancetta. Cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to darken but does not get crispy.
2.) Add jalapeno, garlic, cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Cook until seeds begin to pop: 1-2 minutes
3.) Add beans, milk or broth (or water), pumkin spice, hot sauce, BBQ sauce and liquid smoke. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes, while smashing beans with potato masher (I like to leave them fairly lumpy-- so they're half mashed, half not). Add more water or milk if needed when the beans get too thick or dry.
4.) Add sour cream. Mix in well. Turn off heat. Serve.
Again, if you're pussies and can't handle spice, then leave out some of the jalapenos and definitely don't go putting ghost pepper sauce into anything. Taste everything and add more salt or spices as you go. I tend to do these recipes slightly different every time, so I can't say that these measurements are perfect. Also, neither of these recipes are particularly low in fat, with all the sour cream and cheese in them-- I say: Who the fuck cares! As long as you're eating natural home cooked food, it's good in my book.
Corn and Tomato Salad with Thyme and Roasted Poblanos:
The only things I changed in this recipe were that I used 3 pasillas instead of 2 poblanos-- (they are very similar and in my opinion, interchangeable). I also added a juice from one lime and a tsp of cumin for flavor (otherwise there's basically no dressing on the salad, which I found bland). Also, there's obviously two other recipes on this page. I haven't tried either, but have found that pretty much everything from this book is delicious. If you try them, let me know.
Eat up my cheesy, corny, farty fatsos!
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