Aaron Sanchez Chicken Enchiladas Recipes

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH SALSA VERDE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Add chicken and season with salt and black pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring 1 cup water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. Add tomatillos, serrano pepper, and garlic. Boil for 12 minutes.
• Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Place poblano peppers in a resealable plastic bag and add 1 tablespoon oil. Toss to coat. Transfer peppers to the hot skillet and roast until dark brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Return roasted peppers to the resealable bag and seal. Set aside to steam for 10 minutes. Take out peppers from the bag; remove and discard skins and stems.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer tomatillos, serrano peppers, garlic, and 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid to a blender. Add onion, cilantro, lime juice, roasted poblano peppers, salt, and pepper to the blender. Liquefy into a smooth sauce.
• Remove chicken from the water in the pot and shred using a fork.
• Heat 1/2 cup oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry tortillas in the hot oil until softened, about 5 seconds on each side. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.
• Pour 1/2 the sauce from the blender into the bottom of a long glass baking pan. Roll a portion of chicken mixture and some shredded queso cheese on a tortilla, roll up, and place in the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, and queso cheese. Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce. Use a spoon to add crema in a zigzag design on top. Top everything with remaining queso cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cheese starts to brown, about 20 minutes.

MOLE SAUCE, MY STYLE: MOLE SANCHEZ

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• Begin by placing all the dry chiles on sheet tray and toasting them in hot oven for 2 minutes until they start to let off an aroma, remove quickly and submerge them in bowl with hot water. Set aside.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Place the onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, and garlic on sheet tray and allow until roast and allow to char in a salamander or broiler and the vegetables have roasted for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan combine the prunes, apricots, and raisins with the red wine and allow to cook for 10 minutes or until the fruit has absorbed all the wine and set aside.
• In hot pan, toast all the spices, turning quickly as not to burn them. As soon as you see them smoking, remove, grind in a spice grinder, and set aside.
• To start assembling the mole combine the chiles, roasted vegetables, red wine-soaked dry fruit and the spices in large heavy bottom pot. And add the chicken stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile peel the plantains and slice into 1-inch thick slices. In a saute pan with 3 inches of oil, fry the plantains until golden and add to the pot as well as chocolate and tortillas cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree the sauce until smooth. Serve with chicken, beef, or lamb.

RED MEAT CHILI ENCHILADAS

Steps:

• In a small skillet heat the oil over moderate heat until hot, but not smoking. Using tongs, dip the corn tortillas, 1 at a time, into the oil for 5 seconds to soften. Remove the tortillas from the oil, letting the excess oil drip off. Put them on a paper-towel lined sheet tray to absorb the oil as they cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, take 1 tortilla at a time and build the enchiladas.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put a mound of the shredded meat (about 1/4 cup), a tablespoon of Jack cheese, a tablespoon of onions, and a pinch of chopped cilantro on each tortilla and roll up to enclose.
• In a shallow 3-quart baking dish, coat the bottom with 1 cup of the chili sauce. Arrange the tortillas, seam side down, in a single layer in the dish. Pour the remaining cup of sauce over the enchiladas and cover them with the remaining Jack cheese.
• Bake the enchiladas until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle the enchiladas with the remaining cilantro and serve with the Mexican crema and Cotija cheese.
• On a sheet tray or baking pan, arrange the onion, tomatillos, tomatoes and garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Place under a broiler and char the vegetables, about 5 to 7 minutes. Keep an eye on them; you want them charred but not burned.
• In a dry heavy bottomed skillet dry toast the chiles until soft and fragrant. Remove the chiles from the pan, discard the stem and seeds and plunge them into a bowl of hot water to soften.
• Add the soaked chiles, roasted vegetables and the chicken stock to a blender. Blend the mixture until very smooth. If the mixture is too thick you can always thin it with a little of the chili soaking water. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• In the same skillet you toasted the chiles, toast the spices until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes, and then grind them in a spice grinder.
• In a bowl, mix the ground spices with the 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil to form a paste. Rub this paste all over the flank steak and allow it to marinate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, season the steak with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Preheat a grill or a grill pan on medium-high. Grill the flank steak, for 3 minutes on each side, to char the steak.
• Put the steak in a roasting pan, pour the chili sauce over the steak, and cover the pan with foil. Put the pan in the oven and roast for 1 hour.
• Remove the steak from the pan, shred the meat and reserve the sauce.