Salsa Verrrrrrde...Enchiladas!

Nothing to warm you up during this arctic blast like some spicy Mexican food! This Thursday Dinner Feature comes to you from the wonderful Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild.


I wound up tweaking the recipe a good bit because of some grocery-shopping errors on my part. But that's life, and it turned out well this time! Let's do the recipe as it was written, and I'll note my changes.


Layered Chicken Enchiladas With Salsa Verde


Ingredients:
2 16-ounce jars salsa verde (tomatillo salsa)
2 cups sliced green onions
2 cups (packed) very coarsely chopped fresh cilantro **This is where I messed up. I have a bad tendency to always grab parsley when I mean to get cilantro. Always. So...no cilantro. Instead, I did 2 cups of baby spinach. It doesn't have much of a flavor but will still help the mixture keep its texture.**
14 5- to 6- inch-diameter corn tortillas **I used flour instead of corn, but that's because Scott and I strongly dislike corn tortillas. It's like eating rubber.**
1 purchased roast chicken, meat torn into strips (about 4 cups) **I roasted my own chicken the day before. Because I had time and it's cheaper.**
1 pound mozzarella cheese or Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 cup heavy whipping cream **as usual, I used fat-free half-n-half to try to keep my tum happy.**


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine salsa, green onions, and cilantro (or spinach) in processor. Using on/off turns, blend until onions and cilantro are finely chopped.

At least the parsley looks pretty right?

Mmm...gooey.

Overlap 7 tortillas in bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Top tortillas with half of chicken strips and half of cheese. Pour half of salsa mixture evenly over. Top with remaining tortillas, chicken strips, and cheese. Pour remaining salsa over, then cream. 

In Scott's words, "It looks like it's growing mold."

**Note in the last picture how close the cream is to the top of the dish. I put a large baking pan underneath while it was cooking in case in ran over, but amazingly, it all stayed in the dish.**


Bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes. Cool casserole 10 minutes.

YUM! Serve with rice or beans...or if you're feeling crazy, rice AND beans.

I liked mixing my rice with the casserole. FYI - this is just a saffron rice
packet that you can find in the latino aisle at the grocery store. Delish.

It went fast.

So I'll be honest. It really does look pretty gross. But it was delicious! You can ask our good friend Christian who helped us eat it, who had two servings at dinner, and took three more home with him. (This makes 8-9 servings, and Scott and I didn't want to eat the same leftovers for a week.)


It was a smiiiidddgggeee too spicy for Scott and I, but I had it reheated for lunch and it seemed to mellow out after reheating and was just fine. Scott and I don't have a high tolerance for spicy food so this is probably totally fine for anyone who likes hot wings, jalapeno poppers, etc.


Now go, turn on Feliz Navidad and some colored Christmas lights, and enjoy this dish! :) AND...if you make it with the cilantro, let me know how it tastes!