(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-05 Food is culture and history and sustenance rolled into one. I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Northern NM is a place with a rich living cultural, language, and culinary history. The area was first settled by the Ancestral Puebloans thousands of years ago, and the Pueblo people still live there today. The Spanish invaded in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (ask locals for their opinions of Juan de Oñate. You’ll get opposing earfuls depending on who you ask—400 years and there is still some very bad blood around his legacy). The anglos came in the 19th century, especially after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican American War in 1848. All of these cultures are strongly alive today. Each culture brought its own culinary traditions, mixing with the locally grown native foods. Chiles as we understand them are native to North America, and the locals have been cooking with them for thousands of years. Corn is a widely acknowledged New World crop, but the word Tortilla is Spanish in origin and predates the Spanish exploration of the New World. The result of the unique blending of cultural, geographical, and agricultural elements in Northern New Mexico has resulted in a cuisine unlike that of anywhere else. The names of the dishes may be the same as other Mexican cuisines, but they taste completely different. We have our tacos and enchiladas and tostadas, but they are utterly unlike the foods of the same name you’ll find in a Mexican restaurant in Texas or southern Arizona. Having grown up in Santa Fe, I think green chile may have become part of my DNA. I crave it like others crave chocolate, coffee, cigarettes, etc. For me, autumn is announced by the smell of roasting green chile in rotary drums on most every street corner. I now live in Colorado, and it is not hard to find green chile (though there is a real battle going on over Pueblo green chile vs. Hatch green chile—so be it, I still can get my chile fix). Last night (as on many nights) I made chicken enchiladas. This is a not-lazy recipe, I'm afraid. Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast 5 lbs frozen green chile (I used Bueno autumn roast medium and Bueno mild because they were handy). 1 24-count package corn tortillas 2 lbs shredded cheddar-jack cheese 1 cup sour cream 2 onions 4 cloves garlic Butter Salt to taste Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350. In a 4-quart or larger pot, heat about a Tbsp of butter. Chop one onion very thin and small. Toss into the pot and start to sautee. Crush the garlic and add to the pot. Thaw the frozen green chile in the microwave. Toss it into the pot after the onions start to caramelize. Stir the green chile and simmer while you prep everything. Slice the chicken breasts thin and bake at 350 until cooked through - about 15 to 20 minutes. Chop the second onion relatively small. In a large bowl, mix the onion, about 2/3 of the sour cream and about 1/2 of the cheese. Shred the baked chicken breasts and mix in with the onion, sour cream, and cheese. Put a little bit of butter on a tortilla and pan fry it quickly and lightly. This lets you bend the tortilla without it breaking. Load the middle of the tortilla with the chicken-onion-cheese-cream mix, and wrap it into an enchilada. Place in a baking dish. Repeat this until you have used up all the chicken-onion-cheese-cream mix. You may need two baking dishes. Salt the simmering green chile to taste. I find it takes about 1 tsp of salt for 5 lbs of green chile. Pour the green chile evenly over the tops of the enchiladas (at this point you may wish you had used 2 or 3 more pounds of green chile--I always do. make the best of it). Cover the whole thing with shredded cheese. Bake for 25 minutes at 350. Serve with a garnish of shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes. Top with about a Tbsp of sour cream to cut the heat of the chile. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/5/2197617/-Green-Chile-Chicken-Enchiladas?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/