Easy Cheesy Enchiladas Verde

Inspired by a meal she had at Besito, a Mexican restaurant in my home town, my mom came up with this copy-cat recipe that I think is better than the original. This recipe is super simple, can be made entirely with ingredients from Trader Joe’s (or most supermarkets), and is so,so good. These enchiladas have become my favorite comfort food, they were the last thing I ate before leaving the country for 5 months!

Serves 6.

·      1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs

·      1 ½ cup jarred salsa verde

·      ½ cup sour cream

·      1 cup shredded Mexican cheese

·      ¾ cups shredded swiss cheese

·      ¾ cups shredded gruyere cheese

·      ½ cup diced fire roasted green chilies

·      6 flour tortillas

·      1 tablespoon butter

·      1 tablespoon flour

·      2 tablespoon olive oil

·      salt

·      freshly ground black pepper

Optional

·      ½ cup cilantro

·      ½ cup diced red onion

·      ¼ cup queso fresco

1.     Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.     Wash, dry, and cut chicken into 1 ½ inch cubes. Place chicken in a large casserole dish, coat in olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes.

3.     While chicken cooks warm tortillas in a frying pan over medium high heat, 2 minutes per side or until lightly browned and puffy.

4.     In a large mixing bowl combine sour cream, shredded Mexican cheese, diced green chilies, and ½ a cup of salsa verde.

5.     When the chicken has cooked use forks to shred the pieces in the casserole dish.

6.     Using tongs add the shredded chicken to the mixing bowl. Fold the chicken into the sour cream mixture to combine.

7.     Reserve the cooking liquid from the chicken and wipe out the casserole.

8.      Fill each tortilla with about a half cup of the chicken filling and wrap tightly. Place each tortilla seam side down in the casserole.

9.     Return the pan used to warm the tortillas to the stove over medium heat. Add butter to the pan and once melted add flour, stirring to create a roux. Cook 1 minute.

10.  Add warm chicken liquid and remaining salsa to the pan whisking vigorously. Once a smooth sauce has formed add the swiss and gruyere blend, whisking until melted.

11.  Add sauce to the casserole dish covering enchiladas.

12.  Return the casserole to the oven and cook 20 minutes, until enchiladas are golden brown and bubbling.

13.  Garnish with fresh cilantro, diced red onion, and queso fresco. Serve hot.

Note: I buy a swiss gruyere blend at Trader Joe’s, if this is not available to you feel free to swap the gruyere for another ½ cup of swiss for convenience.