Chicken Enchiladas (with a side of Insight)

          Thinking back to a month ago, I genuinely thought I would be spending Cinco de Mayo with my friends. We would make up for the last two months apart, drinking margaritas and playing games. I was going to make a Tres Leches cake, by the way. I would be lying if I denied succumbing to a wave of sadness as I woke up this morning, realizing today would be the same. Wake up, work from my makeshift apartment office, walk my dog, play some animal crossing, do a little drawing, maybe some pilates, then go to sleep and do it all over again tomorrow. I’m allowing myself to feel the sadness today. I’m also allowing myself to use this sadness as a lesson. I feel sad because I love my friends and I miss them, but this time apart is not forever. We will all see our friends and family soon- be able to hug them, laugh together, share a meal. This sadness I feel today just reassures me good times are on the horizon, I have people I love waiting on the other side of this crisis. We will eat tacos, drink way too many margaritas, and I will be making that damn Tres Leches cake. But in the meantime, I will make the best of this situation. I’ll make myself chicken enchiladas, probably still drink way too many margaritas, and spend my night drunkenly face timing the people I love. I hope you are hanging in there, please know you are not alone if you, like me, are feeling a little sadness.

Chicken Enchiladas (Adapted from Sam Sifton)

For the chicken:

2 pounds bone in chicken ( breasts, thighs, or combination)

1/2 medium onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon kosher salt

4 cups chicken stock

For the Salsa Verde:

1 pound fresh tomatillos

1/2 medium onion

1 clove of garlic

2 serrano chiles (you can also use jalapeños, remove seeds if you don’t care for spice)

4 stems cilantro

salt to taste

For the Enchiladas:

1/2 cup canola oil

10 corn or flour tortillas

1 cup cotija cheese ( or whichever cheese you prefer, but never optional)

1 cup Mexican crema (I’m using sour cream, optional)

pickled red onions (optional)

pickled jalapeños (optional)

thinly sliced radishes (optional)

Lime to finish (optional)

You can either follow the steps to prepare the chicken using the ingredients above, or you can simply buy a rotisserie chicken and shred. My store only had boneless chicken breasts in stock (global pandemics, man) so that is what I used, just cut down on the cooking time! Place the chicken parts into a large pot with the onion, garlic and salt. Cover with the chicken stock, supplementing with water if the stock does not completely cover. Heat over high until the stock begins to boil then reduce to medium. Continue to simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Remove the chicken from the liquid and allow to cool, then shred the meat. Discard any skin or bones but keep the liquid for the next step. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

In the same pot with the reserved liquid from above, boil the husked tomatillos and serrano peppers in the liquid until the tomatillos turn an army green. This took me about 5 minutes. Then in a food processor or blender, combine the tomatillos, serrano peppers, onion, garlic and cilantro and pulse. Add enough of the reserved chicken stock from above to thin the sauce out to your desired consistency, I added a little under half a cup. Pulse until fairly smooth. Add salt to taste if needed.

In a medium sauce pan, heat the oil just until it begins to shimmer. Working with one tortilla at a time, add to the pan and allow to brown on each side. Should take about ten seconds per side. Remove from pan and set aside on a wire rack or baking sheet.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spoon a little of the salsa verde to cover the bottom of the pan. Place a few tablespoons of shredded chicken on top of the tortilla, top with a spoonful or so of salsa verde, then roll the tortilla up. Place the tortilla seam side down into the glass pan. Repeat this until you have a row of 12 tortillas. Cover the tortillas with salsa verde and sprinkle half of the cheese on top. Baked for 15 minutes then top with your desired toppings and enjoy!