Stove Top Enchiladas

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I went to the store last Wednesday and bought everything to make enchiladas the next afternoon. I was planning to make them from scratch. This meant making the filling, warming the tortillas, dipping them in sauce, stuffing, rolling and putting everything together so it can be baked off. It’s a labor intensive, but also a magically delicious treat.

In the morning, before I got started, I noticed a simple and quick enchilada recipe in a magazine that I was thumbing through. The recipe would leave me hardly any dishes to do and take only a half hour. Not feeling that ambitious, I changed course and adapted my ingredients to the quick version and it turned out totally delicious.

For this recipe, I take the classic Mexican enchilada and turn it into a simple and fast one-pot dish. The recipe utilizes a can of cream of chicken soup combined with enchilada sauce to form a delicious binder that gives the dish it’s signature flavor – and it can be made with only one dirty pot to clean!

BEHIND THIS BITE

Stove Top Enchiladas

Instead of stove top enchiladas I should really call it chopped or shredded enchiladas. The taste is spot on, it's just not packaged into pretty little bundles of rolled tortillas. It's as if the whole dish got blown to hell and whats left is goulash that taste exactly like enchiladas.

I really like the taste and the simplicity of this dish, but it was hard to get a pretty photograph. It’s kind of just a blob on a plate, so I just piled it high with cheese and let the pictures rip. It mat not be as beautiful a dish as prime rib to photograph but the flavor was there and I will gladly make this again – especially when I am rushed for time.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Stove Top Enchiladas

Serves 4; 30 minutes
1 1/2 lb Chicken breast, boneless, cubed
1 Tbs Chili powder
1 Tbs Cumin
1 C Red onion, diced
1/2 C Jalapeño, seeded, diced
2 tsp Garlic, minced
1 Can Cream of chicken soup, undiluted (10 oz)
1 Can Enchilada sauce (10 oz)
12 Corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch strips
1 tsp Mexican oregano
2 C Pepper jack cheese, shredded

Cook chicken
In a large skillet or soup pot over medium heat cook chicken thighs in a little olive oil. Add chili powder and cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well combined. Cook chicken through, 8 to 10 minutes, remove to plate.

Sauté vegetables
Add more oil to pan if necessary then saute onion and jalapeño until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic, cook 1 minute more.

Finish
Add undiluted cream of chicken soup, enchilada sauce, tortillas and Mexican oregano. Return chicken to pan and stir everything together until well incorporated. Cook until simmering and heated through, 6 to 8 minutes. Stirring often. Scoop into bowls, top with cheese, then serve.