Enchilada Suiza

It's no secret that the Doc and I love Mexican/Tex-Mex Food and since I had a vat of shredded Mexican blend cheese in my fridge that I wanted to use up, I decided to make enchiladas for dinner. I have never been a big fan, and would never order them in a restaurant, but the Doc is, and I like to be accommodating.

The last few times I made enchiladas, I have used a Tyler Florence recipe. They are so yummy, but I had made them recently and wanted to try something different. I went onto All Recipes and typed enchilada into the search field and then sorted by rating. It took me a few clicks before finding this recipe for Enchilada Suizas, a dish that doesn't use sour cream in the mix, otherwise the Doc won't touch it! I had never heard of this dish before but it sounded good, and it meets the NO sour cream requirement when cooking Mexican in this house!!

What You Need:
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup chopped Spanish onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped green chile peppers
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 dash ground cumin

12 (8 inch) corn tortillas
canola oil for frying (I skipped this part!)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast meat
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1 pint cherry tomatoes

The Steps:
1. Prepare salsa verde: Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft. Stir in the flour. Add the broth, then add the chiles, garlic, salt, and cumin. Simmer about 15 minutes to blend flavors, then set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.)

2. In a heavy skillet, lightly fry tortillas in shallow oil, being careful not to make them too crisp to roll. Combine the cheeses and keep 1/2 cup aside for topping. Dip each tortilla in salsa verde (both sides.) Place 2 heaping tablespoons chicken and about 2 tablespoons cheese down the center of each; roll and place seam side down in a shallow dish.

3. After all the rolled tortillas are in the dish, spoon additional salsa verde over them and then cover evenly with heavy cream. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese mixture, and with the green onions.

4. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with the olives, cherry tomatoes, and with additional salsa on the side.

The Verdict:
This was SO SO SO good! I probably went a little overboard on the cheese, or a LOT overboard if you ask the Doc, but it was still so yummy! I will definitely be making this one again.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I did not fry my tortillas. I heated them per the package directions in the oven. I also used light cream instead of heavy cream and I only used a 1/2 cup because that is all I had on hand. The package of tortillas that I bought only came with 8 but that was plenty for us with some leftover.

I made my shredded chicken by filling a pot with 2.5 cups chicken broth, 4 cups of water and tossed in some paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, season salt, pepper, onion powder, and cumin. Boil the chicken until done and then shred with two forks.