Chicken Enchiladas

Gluten Free Chicken Enchiladas
and Tapena Tempranillo wine

Ingredients:

 Enchilada Sauce:

• Tomato puree (two cups)
• Yellow onion (1/2 cup diced)
• Garlic (3 cloves minced)
• Cumin (2 tsp)
• Regular Chili powder (2 tsp)
• Hot Chili powder (1 tsp)
• Oregano (1 tsp)
• 1 can green chilis

Filling:

• Shredded chicken (previously cooked- 1.5 cups)
• Monterey Jack cheese (1 cup)
• Extra sharp Cheddar cheese (1 cup)

Corn Tortillas (Can be store bought, or we made them fresh and used a tortilla press)

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For those that have a tortilla press, and we recommend getting one, buy a bag of Maseca flour (found at most grocery stores or latin markets). This bag will last you ages, as you only need a cup or two at a time, depending on the dinner you are making. For this recipe we used about a cup and a half of flour which yielded 8 tortillas that were 5" in diameter.

 

Imusa VICTORIA-85008 Victoria Cast Iron Tortilla Press, 8-Inch

While I was cooking up the tortillas (follow instructions on flour bag), Ian started on the enchilada sauce by sauteing the onions and garlic together. Give the onions a head start as garlic has the a tendency to burn if cooked for too long. Once the onions are warmed up, Ian threw in the can of green chiles and added the spices. For spicier 'ladas, adjust your chili powders to have more hot chili instead of regular chili powder.

After adding the spices, Ian poured in the tomato puree and brought everything back to heat. During this time, Liz shredded the Monterey Jack and Sharp Cheddar cheese. A handful of this cheese was mixed with the shredded chicken, which came from a roasted chicken we made last night. This, along with a few spoonfuls of the enchilada sauce, became the filling for the enchiladas.

 Once all the items were prepared, Ian dipped each tortilla in the enchilada sauce and pan fried them in olive oil. Once bubbling, he passed them on to Liz who filled them with a few spoonfuls of the meat and cheese filling and then rolled them up and placed them in the pan. This was repeated until we filled up the entire dish. Liz popped the dish into the oven (375 degrees) until the cheese started bubbling, and the end result was one delicious mix of chicken, cheese and chiles!

 

                                   Wine:

For the dinner, we had a couple glasses of Tapena Tempranillo, which sold for 9 bucks at our local market. Tempranillo is a Spanish grape, and Tapena is a Gold Medal winner, according to it's website (for the 2009 line). We happened upon it at the store while picking up cilantro for the final garnish on our dish. This was a very easy drinking wine. Nothing special, nothing bad. It did go well with the meal, as Tempranillo that likes to be paired with Mexican food. For the price, it was very reasonable, and we ended up finishing the bottle with another glass each after dinner. We would mostly likely buy another brand before getting this one again, mostly because we are new to Tempranillo and would like to try more brands.

Verdict

We found the meal to be lighter than expected, considering the amount of cheese we used.  This would be a great dish for a lunch for a couple days if you're cooking for yourself, or a nice dinner for a couple. Families that want to involve the kids can let them roll and press the tortillas, which keeps them occupied and keeps the parental units from going nuts.

Ian feels like we could find some special ingredient that you wouldn't normally expect in enchiladas to make this dish really sing.  Liz feels like this meal could benefit from some minced up mushrooms, spinach or other items that can add flavor variety while keeping the meal feeling light. We'll definitely come back to this recipe to see what sort of alterations we can make to it.