Green Chicken Enchiladas from ‘Eat Mexico’
Photo: Penny de los Santos
From Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week: Eat Mexico by Lesley Téllez
Enchiladas Verdes
Green Chicken Enchiladas
Typical Mexican enchiladas arrive rolled up and stuffed, but at my favorite enchilada street stand—the inspiration for this recipe—they’re stacked in a messy, luxurious pile, with separate individual layers of corn tortillas, fresh cilantro and onion, green enchilada sauce, shredded cheese and chicken. The whole thing is topped with a blanket of crema and more cheese. It’s almost like a deconstructed lasagna. The dish is enough to make you fall deeply in love with Mexico City—particularly when the corn tortillas are homemade, and the green sauce is prepared with a slow-simmering pot of fresh chicken stock.
3 pounds skinless chicken legs, thighs, and breasts, fat trimmed
1 pound chicken backs, fat trimmed
3 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 dried Mexican bay leaf
5 peppercorns
1 medium onion, quartered
13/4 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 large serrano chiles
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons lard or canola oil
24 corn tortillas
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups crema
1 cup mild, shredded cheese, such as Monterrey Jack or Colby
At least 2 hours before you’d like to eat, place the chicken, 1 garlic clove, the bay leaf, peppercorns and a quarter of the onion in a large stockpot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to very low, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken legs, thighs and breasts with tongs or a slotted spoon and let cool. Discard the chicken backs and strain the stock; set aside.
Once cool enough to handle, shred the meat and season with ¾ teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Set aside.
Place the tomatillos in a large saucepan. Add the remaining 2 cloves garlic, peeled, and 2 quarters of the onion. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium heat until the tomatillos turn pea green and soften, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool. (Vegetarians can reserve the cooking water, turn up the flame, and reduce for 15 to 20 minutes, to use in lieu of chicken stock, if they choose.)
Stem the chiles and chop roughly with the cooked garlic. Add to a blender jar with half of the tomatillo mixture, and ½ cup of the strained chicken stock. (If you have a high-powered blender, toss all the ingredients in at once.) Blend until smooth. Add the remaining tomatillo-onion mixture and 1 teaspoon salt, and blend again until smooth.
Warm 1 tablespoon lard in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the sauce in one quick pour, being careful as it might splatter. Cook until the flavors meld, about 5 minutes.
Heat 2 teaspoons lard in a small skillet over medium heat and swirl to coat the bottom. Fry the tortillas lightly, one at a time, until slightly tougher but still pliable, about 30 seconds per side. (They shouldn’t be crisp.) As you work, remove the fried tortillas to serving plates—I like to serve 4 tortillas per person. Fold the tortillas in a half-moon shape and make sure they sit in an even layer on each plate.
Dice the remaining quarter of onion. Ladle ¾ cup sauce over over each serving of tortillas, spreading slightly so the tortillas are entirely smothered in sauce. Add a layer of diced onion and cilantro, a layer of shredded cheese, a layer of chicken, some crema and another layer of sauce. Top with another light sprinkling of diced onion.
Cooking Tip: I recommend making your own light stock here, using the water in which you’ve cooked the chicken; see recipe on page 98. If you can find a hen, which Mexican cooks consider to be the most flavorful stock base, use that. If you’re vegetarian, this dish can still be pretty wonderful, especially if you use homemade vegetable stock.
Reprinted with permission from Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas by Lesley Téllez (Kyle Books).
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