Can-Free Enchiladas
Several years ago there was a very popular little store not too far from me in Texas that had a thriving business selling “home-made” food that was packaged for freezer or oven. It was supposed to be a step up from a regular deli and a couple steps up from frozen dinners. I thought it was a great idea, so I went in a few times and bought meals.
I must have gotten pretty unlucky with my first casserole…some pasta thing with chicken. One of my first bites had a huge piece of fat rather than chicken. Kinda ruined the dish for me. I tried a couple different dishes that were pretty good, they definitely did taste better than frozen, but then I got a huge shock. While looking at their little pan of Sour Cream Enchiladas, I read the label and discovered that they used canned cream of chicken soup!
Now I know there are a lot of really good cooks out there that use cream of chicken soup, but I always have considered the canned cooking approach to be cheating. Besides, this store was charging me $12 for an 8″x6″ pan of canned cooking! I know that a big part of their business was busy people saving time, but let’s get real! I don’t need some chi-chi store to make a canned-soup casserole for me!
So I started to play and I discovered how easy it is to make the enchiladas without the canned soup. It takes just a little bit more time, but not much, and it is So. Much. Better.
Since I figured it out, I never use canned soup anymore. Anytime a recipe calls for it, I use the basic method below, and adapt accordingly, adding mushrooms or cheese or just onions.
If you have the chicken pre-cooked, this is actually a pretty easy work-night dinner. It also keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge before cooking. And it freezes nicely, too.
Sour Cream Enchiladas
Filling
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
3 T butter
4 T flour
2 c chicken stock
1/2 c half-and-half
1/2 t cumin
1/2 c sour cream
1 can chopped green chilis
1 – 1 1/2 c Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
chopped jalapenos, if desired
Filling
3 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
6 flour tortillas
Topping
1/2 c Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
1/4 c sour cream
milk to thin as necessary
Saute onions and garlic in butter until soft. Stir in flour until thoroughly combined with butter. Slowly add chicken stock, whisk until smooth.
Cook until thickened, add half-and-half and cumin. Return mixture to simmer. Slowly stir in sour cream, green chilis, optional jalapenos and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (The cheese is pretty salty, you probably won’t need much.)
Spread a couple spoonfulls over the bottom of a 9″x13″ pan – this will help keep the enchiladas from sticking. Spoon filling mixture into flour tortillas, roll to close tortillas and lay them, seam side down in pan.
For the topping, using the pan you cooked the filling in, mix together sour cream and cheese. Season with salt & pepper. Mix with milk to a easily spreadable consistency. Spread over the top of the enchiladas.
Bake at 375 until hot, melted and bubbly.
Recipes | greengrassliving | 
November 18, 2008 11:01 am
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