Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

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The combination of roasted tomatillo salsa with smoked chicken was the idea of my good friend Barbara Paul. She’s a exquisite home chef and caterer who likes cooking Mexican and I just love her food.

To this day, the indigenous Mexicans roast and toast the ingredients using a comal, so roasting the ingredients in an oven is an extension of this technique. In doing so, caramelization of the tomatillos and garlic imparts a sweetness and richness to this sauce. Most recipes for enchiladas verdes instruct you to cook the tomatillos, chile and onion in boiling water; probably a modernization of the new world, and it produces a salsa verde more citric and of lighter flavors.

No need to cook any chicken, just locate a BBQ deli where you can purchase smoked chicken and preparing the sauce is easy. So let’s get started with this recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 smoked chicken, shredded

1 lb tomatillos, husks removed and washed.

¼ large red onion, cut into thick slices

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1-2 jalapeños deseeded

¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro plus 1 tablespoon of leaves for garnish

¼ cup cotija or queso fresco cheese crumbled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 dozen corn tortillas

Avocado slices for garnish

Onion circles or slices for garnish

Salt

Preparation

Salsa Verde

Preheat the oven at 400^oF. Combine the tomatillos, onion, jalapeños and garlic in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20-30minutes until you see some charring or browning. Cool and process the roasted ingredients in a food blender with 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro. Add water, about 1 cup of water to achieve a consistency to coat the tortillas.

Remove the salsa to a container and salt to taste.

Enchiladas

Review the illustrations below and follow the instructions. Heat an 8 inch omelette pan, remove it from the burner and lightly spray it’s bottom with cooking oil and return to the burner. Place a tortilla to slightly fry each side. Optionally rather than frying it, just heat a tortilla on each side sufficiently to make the tortilla pliable so it’s easy to roll.

Place 2 tablespoons of salsa verde on a salad plate and lay the tortilla over the sauced plate and rotate in a circular motion to coat the bottom side of the tortilla uniformly with sauce. On the open side, add and spread sauce on the tortilla to coat it evenly, about 1 tablespoon. Place shredded chicken on the tortilla about ½ inch from the edge and sprinkle it with cheese and cilantro. Roll the tortilla tight. Lay the assembled enchilada seam facing down on a tray.

Plating

Prior to serving, warm the enchiladas in a microwave oven, plate each individual serving and garnish with rings of fresh onion, cilantro, crumbles of cheese and a few slices of avocado.