Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

The Daring Cooks continue to keep us on our toes. Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

I think this might be my favorite challenge yet, and if not, it definitely ranks in the top 2. Of course, I could probably eat something like this everyday for the rest of my life and not lament the lack of variety.

The challenge required us to make a sauce from scratch, although we weren't limited to the sauce suggested by the hosts. Given our love for tomatillos, though, we decided this sounded too good not to try. Even better was the suggestion that the skins of the anaheim chiles be charred on the grill. And since I've got a husband who loves to show off his grilling skills, something I encourage at every opportunity, I knew this one was going to be a recipe worth keeping before we even had the ingredients.

Because we weren't experimenting with the sauce, Mike decided he would go an extra step with the chicken. For the first time ever, he added hickory chips to the grill, which created a lightly smoked flavor that really complemented the grilled flavor of the chiles. Having eaten these enchiladas that way once, I don't know if I could go without the hickory-smoked chicken.

The difference between this recipe and other enchilada recipes was that the ingredients were stacked as opposed to rolled inside a tortilla. While the presentation suffered a bit because of this technique, at least in our case because we did not use individual gratin dishes, the ease of the preparation more than compensated for the "comfort-food" look of the dish.

Already I'm thinking of the many sleepless nights I've got ahead of me, once ******** arrives, and thinking of how I can stock this away in my freezer, and how I can come up with other sauces that would be equally delicious. Nothing like a challenge that encourages further experimentation.

Thanks to our hosts for this seasonal and fun challenge!

Mike was quite proud of these action grill shots, which I have to say impressed me. My take on roasted peppers is forever changed!

Ingredients

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles)

24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely.

7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium) - peel, remove stems

4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)

1 clove Garlic, minced

2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)

¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)

2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)

Hot sauce, your favorite, optional

2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)

3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)

Kosher salt and pepper

12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm)

6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams

Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

Directions

Roasting Fresh Chiles

1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.

2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.

3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.

4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.

5. DO NOT RINSE!

Green Chile Sauce

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.

2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.

3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.

3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.

4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.

5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).

6. Drain on paper towels.

7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.

8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.

9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.

10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.

12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.

13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.