Chicken Enchiladas

Mr. FoodWhore is always requesting Mexican food. I think it's because it gives him yet another excuse to use his beloved Cholula hot sauce.  He's addicted to it. Seriously. I can't keep enough of it in house. 

I'm also trying to make one meal a week that will yield a lot of servings (casseroles, etc), so we can eat a few meals and then freeze leftovers for later.  One of my food goals for 2011 is to eat out less and stick to a budget, so this really helps. 

Anyway, this week I opted for Chicken Enchiladas. And since I was feeling ambitious (and had all the ingredients in-house), I decided to make the sauce from scratch too.  The sauce was a bit hotter than I would like, although it was quite tasty.  Next time, I will cut back a bit on the chili powder.  In the end, this got two thumbs up from the FoodWhore household and will definitely be a recipe we make again and again. 

Ingredients:
sauce:
1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp chipotle powder
4 cups chicken broth
1 oz square semi-sweet chocolate

enchiladas:
2 bone-in chicken breasts
8-12 whole wheat tortillas
3 cups shredded white cheese (I used mozzarella, but use your favorite)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper, diced

Directions:
1. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Drizzle lightly with olive oil (optional) and bake on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes at 350* or until they reach an internal temperature of 175*.

2. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce.  Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onions and garlic until soft and transulcent.

3. Add in the spices and herbs. Mix well until onions are coated.

4. Stir in chicken broth and reduce to medium low heat.  Stir in the flour and continue to simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency. Mix in chocolate until melted. Remove sauce from heat and let sit.

*Note: I added about 2 more tbsp of flour here. The sauce thickened a bit, but it thickens much more when the enchiladas bake, so don't worry if it's thin.

5. When chicken is done cooking, allow it to cool for a few minutes. Then remove chicken from bone and pull or chop to bite-sized pieces.

6. Heat the tortillas (nuke in a microwave with a damp paper towel). And prepare to assemble the enchiladas.

7. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. 

8. In each tortilla, sprinkle a small handful of chicken, about 1/4 cup of the sauce and a 1/4 cup of white cheese. Roll tightly and place in the pan. Repeat until the chicken, tortillas and white cheese are gone.

9. Pour remaining sauce over the tortillas.

10. Sprinkle with diced tomatoes, peppers and shredded cheese.

11. Bake enchiladas in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes. If you refrigerate the enchiladas before baking, they will need to bake for about 45 minutes. 

Bon Appetit!
The Food Whore