Green Chicken Enchiladas

I do love to cook Mexican food. Sometimes though, it can be a little taxing with the prep time. It normally takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to just prep actual homemade enchiladas (this also includes making the tomatillo sauce). If you are up to the challenge, try this recipe.

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs, boneless
1 large onion,  diced
4 cups tomatillo sauce (preferably fresh, but canned is ok)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, asadero and quesadilla cheese)

First, start by cleaning the chicken. I am a true believer in rinsing your food. Remember, like most of my recipes, I tend to rinse the meat to take off any preservative or other additive.

Next get ready to fry the chicken thighs. I don't like to crowd the chicken and I add less than a tablespoon of olive oil. The thighs have enough fat that it will cook itself. Cook the chicken until it was browned. Take out of the skillet and add the next batch. Allow the chicken to drain.

 

Once the chicken has cooled some, dice the chicken into cube sized pieces, place off to the side. In the same pan, add the diced onions allowing to saute for about a minute. While that is sauteing, add the diced chicken. Also add the minced garlic. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent.

While the chicken is cooking, start to heat up your tomatillo sauce. Once its starts to heat up, add to the cooking chicken mixture (about a couple of large spoonfuls). Allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and allow for sauce to meld well with the chicken. If need be, taste and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

In order for the tortillas to soften, you need the sauce to be hot. Keep in mind this sauce I had made a long time ago. This was actually salsa that I had made a while back, but in order for it to be sauce, I have added a little more chicken stock to the salsa. Allow to cook a while longer.

Once you are ready to assemble the enchiladas, turn the heat off of the sauce. Add some of the sauce to the bottom of your baking dish. Dip the tortilla into the sauce and allow it to soak a little in the hot sauce. Take out and get ready to stuff. Add the cheese and chicken to each tortilla and roll.

Continue to assemble the tortillas until all of the chicken is stuffed into the tortillas. Once you have your enchiladas assembled, add more sauce to the enchiladas. Cover the enchiladas with cheese.

 
Preheat your oven at 350 degrees. Cover the enchiladas in foil. Place the enchiladas into the oven and allow to bake for about 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and its ready to serve! Enjoy it with some beans and rice or just have them alone. It may be a lot of work, but its well worth it!

3 meat, 3 bean chili

Making chili is such a great thing to do and its freaking easy to make. I know I have made some previous posts where one could enjoy White Bean Chili and Buffalo Chili. Any of these types of meals is hearty, but of course its not necessarily vegetarian.

Here's a thing about making this type of chili, you make it your own. I have made this before with buffalo and pork as well. One time, I made it even with deer meat. When you use meat that is a little more gamey (deer, squirrel or other type of meat), make sure you soak the meat in buttermilk. This helps taper off the taste of game and you could enjoy it.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 lb turkey
1 lb lamb
1 large onion, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 cans 8 oz Hunts tomato for chili
1 4 oz tomato sauce
4 - 6  cups beef stock (or beef broth)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder (additional, in case)
1 tbsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Start by getting a large pot well heated, adding some olive oil. Brown the meat.

 

While the meat is cooking, dice the onions. Add the onions to the cooking meat. If you like, you may add a small red onion. This would add a little sweetness to the chili, but not much.

 

 

After about 5 minutes (or when the onions are a little translucent), I add ground turkey that I had previously used for turkey tacos. Allow to cook for about another 5 minutes. Now if you are using turkey that is freshly ground, Mix with the other meats and allow to cook as normal.

 

Add the garlic to the cooking meat, cooking for about 1 minute. Make sure you mix on occasion.

Now add the beans to the cooking meat. Allow to cook for about another 5 minutes. Make sure you don't over stir as you might bruise the beans.

 

 

Add the liquid items. Mix in every time you add a liquid item to the cooking chili. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Add a lid to your pot as it will help in the cooking process.

 

Add the spices. Notice that I am not stirring until I have added all the spices. As with most things that I cook, I don't oversalt things since I have the beef broth, tomato sauce and other items that have enough salt. Let the chili cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and see if you need to add additional spices to the cooking chili.

 

Allow to continue to cook for about 20 minutes on high. This should be coming to a boil. Reduce the heat to about low heat. This will continue to cook for another 10 to 20 minutes making sure you stir on occasion.

Turn off the heat and take off of the heat. This is especially if you are using an electric stove.

Know that I have cooked this 1 day ago. I normally like to cook this well in advance because the spices need to meld well together. This was a winner AGAIN as I had approval from MC and the in law. Serve this with crackers and some sour cream/cheese.