Ginger's Home Cooking: Ginger's Pollo Verde Enchiladas

Ingredients:

4 bone-in chicken breasts

2 cups of good quality chicken stock/broth

1 whole onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. salt

1 large can (28 oz.) of La Costeña tomatillos (For local Dublin friends, Elit Shop on Liffey St.or Saburritos in The Epicurean Food Hall on Liffey St. in town stock these.)

6-8 pieces of sliced jarred jalapenos (If you like it hot, use more or use canned Serrano peppers.)

12 Soft corn tortillas (These are a little hard to find here, but Old El Paso & Discovery stock them in some Tescos. Saburritos also sometimes sells them. Use flour in a pinch, but corn are best.)

¼ cup vegetable or rapeseed oil (Canola)

227g (8 oz.) grated cheddar, cheddar & mozzarella mix or Monterey Jack

2 tsp. dried (not ground) Coriander (Cilantro)

½ tsp. Mild Chilli Powder

½ tsp. Ground Cumin

2 deep baking dishes (This amount usually fills a 9"x12" & an 8"x8" for me.)

This is my own take on Pollo Verde Enchiladas (cobbled together from various recipes & methods.) For years, I couldn’t make them, as we didn’t get tomatillos over here. Now there are 2 import places in town that stock the canned variety & I use those. You can adjust the recipe to use fresh ones by using around 1.5 pounds in weight (husks removed), covering them in water & boiling them until they go from bright green to a dull army green. After that, the steps are the same. You can also use fresh Coriander (Cilantro) instead of dried, but as my husband is not keen on the taste of it, I use dried, which is milder. *Bear in mind that if you are making the salsa verde, the enchiladas, the rice (rice posted as a separate recipe) & guacamole all on the same day, you will need to set aside about 3 & ½ to 4 hours from start to finish. I like to do it on a weekend when I have the whole day with no school run, etc. You could also do the salsa verde the night before & make the dinner the next day to break the time up.

Method:

To make the salsa verde: In a saucepan, combine chicken breasts with chicken broth, ¼ onion (unchopped), a clove of garlic (whole) & 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Reserve broth with garlic in, discard onion & set aside chicken to cool for shredding. Place tomatillos into a pot with the juices from the can. Bring to a simmer & simmer for a few minutes to make sure they are softened. Strain tomatillos and place in a blender with another quarter piece of onion, 1 fresh clove of garlic, 2 tsp. dry Coriander (Cilantro), ½ tsp. Mild Chilli Powder, ½ tsp. Ground Cumin & the pieces of sliced jalapeno (you can use more if you like it spicier. I stick to this amount as it’s a level of heat my 7 year old son can handle). Pour in reserved chicken broth & cooked garlic clove, so that liquid just covers the veggies in the blender by about an inch. Blend all ingredients until they are completely pureed. Pour salsa in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer & remove from heat.
To make the enchiladas: When cool enough to handle, de-bone & shred chicken by hand. Dice half an onion & soften in a little butter. Add softened onion to shredded chicken for filling (you will have more than enough filling & can use extra for topping). Pour oil in a frying pan & allow it to get very hot. Slightly fry tortillas one by one in hot oil, setting each on a paper towel (stacking with paper towels in between) afterwards to soak up some of the oil. This is a trick my mother taught me. As the tortillas are already soft & will also be cooked in the oven, it slightly seals the tortillas so that the rich verde sauce doesn’t soak into them & make them too puffy & wet. Next, dip slightly fried tortillas by hand into warm salsa verde until they are generously coated. One at a time, place each coated tortilla flat into your baking dish, fill tortillas with a generous portion of shredded chicken & onion mixture (but make sure it’s not too full to roll up) & a tiny bit of your cheese, then roll up tightly. When your pans are full of rolled enchiladas, top them with extra salsa verde, a scattering of any excess chicken & onion mixture & generous amounts of grated cheese. Bake at 190 Celsius (375 F) for about 30 minutes, give or take, until the cheese is browning & bubbly.

I like to serve this with homemade Mexican Rice, refried beans, homemade guacamole & sour cream. My boys & I love it – it’s always satisfying & tastes like a real Mexican restaurant experience (something that’s not common over here!) This makes 12 enchiladas, so can feed a family of 3 with leftovers & some to freeze or can feed a family of 5 or 6 for one night.