Tomatillo Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

A while back I posted a recipe for chicken enchiladas from Tyler Florence.  They were good, but not the best.  At the beginning of that post I mentioned my all-time favorite recipe for chicken enchiladas, but did not provide it.  What was I thinking?  How could I be so selfish as to say how wonderful something was, but not share it?  I must apologize and make up for it by sharing this incredible recipe with you now.  I made  these enchiladas this weekend and they were a hit  that night for dinner, and last night as leftovers.

There are a few shortcuts to this meal, but the sauce totally makes this dish, so don’t try to use any shortcuts there.  When I have time I boil my own chicken and shred it, but you can save quite a bit of time by shredding the meat from a rotisserie chicken.  I also use a cup of the chicken broth to make the sauce when I boil my own chicken.  This time I used 3 large skinless, bone-in chicken breasts, and that was just enough chicken.  Using pre-shredded cheese is an obvious time saver.  You can put the enchiladas together and refrigerate or freeze them until you want to bake them.  The sauce also freezes well, but freeze them separately and thaw them in the fridge overnight before baking.

You can add more green chiles to kick up the heat, which I usually do.  The cheese is also something you can play with.  More or less is fine, but leave it out entirely and you’ll be sad and sorry.  If you have leftover turkey, then use that in place of the chicken.

This recipe is from Austin, Texas Junior League cookbook, Austin Entertains.  You can purchase it here.  The recipe is below, and just slightly adapted.

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