Holy enchilada. Dawn in MO "creamy enchiladas" super-charged with butternut & kale. Whoa.

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Seriously. I think these may be the best ones ever.

Two weeks ago I tried Pioneer Woman's Butternut Squash and Kale Quesadillas. They were very good.

Then a friend gave me a package of Costco's "fresh flour tortillas" in which you have to bake each one first (I did 30 seconds each side in a cast iron pan) before using it. They have no preservatives and can't be frozen unbaked. I made two for dinner and found them SO much better than packaged ones. Yet, what to do with 16 remaining tortillas?

Dawn in MO's Creamy Chicken Enchiladas on Steroids

1 5-lb fryer, cut into pieces and poached in water & chicken broth for 30 minutes, then shredded.

1/2 large butternut squash, peeled down to the orange, cut in 1/2" dice and sauteed until soft

3 jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed, diced in 1/2" pieces, sauteed

2 onions, diced, sauteed until soft

1/2 head of kale, cut into bite-size pieces, sauteed

8 oz cream cheese

20 oz cheese: blend of cheddar, pepper jack and monterey jack.

16 fresh flour 8" tortillas

The following was lightly added to the chicken mixture

cumin, coriander, Norwoods seasoning.

1/2 -1 C chicken broth

Sauce:

1 soup-size can of green enchilada sauce

1 soup-size can of whole green chilies, rinsed & diced to 1/2"

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp garlic powder

I made 4 pans of 4 enchilada each, using 1/2 C of chicken mixture and 1/4 C of cheese inside each tortilla. We ate one batch over two meals and the other 3 pans are in the freezer.

Thanks Dawn. Her original recipe is already in the T&T, where it rightly belongs.

 
Dawn's recipe is a favorite in our house -served on Christmas Eve and...

...at other times of the year. My eldest son often requests them for his birthday meal.

We use corn tortillas. That's really the only change.

I wanted to mention that it comes together even faster if you use the meat from a large rotisserie chicken (think Costco size). I find one chicken gives me about 4 cups of skinned and boned meat.

Your new version sounds wonderful.

Thanks Marilyn!

Michael

 
You know, Michael, I walked into the grocery store planning to buy rotisserie chickens.

This is a high-end market in Orlando and I thought they would be the easiest way to go. Our local Publix told me their rotisserie chickens are exactly 2.2. pounds ($6.99 each) and I knew I'd need the meat from at least two of them. At this store (Fresh Market with dedicated butchers), they were $7.99 each, while the uncooked fryer was $1.70 a pound. I was still waffling on which way to go when the butcher informed me that the fryer was "all natural with no preservatives or additives" then nodded toward the delil and simply said "the rotisserie chickens are "Perdue." Then he lifted his eyebrows slightly.

Whether he was working customer psychology on me or what, his tone and inflection translated that sentence into "Buy those and you'll be buying preservative-soaked, chemically-infused, genetically-altered, sodium-saturated chicken used-to-be's."

I like to think I bought the 5-lb fryer because the price was a better deal. That's what I'd like to think.

 
Marilyn, the PW Quesadillas sound so delicious! I also have visions of adding

some caramalized onions and maybe some black beans. What a great quick weeknight dinner along with a salad.

 
They are, Barb. I added sauteed onion to the quesadilla and black beans would be

great too.

It's one of those meals where Larry and I took a bite, looked at each other and almost simultaneously said: "I wouldn't have TOUCHED THIS as a kid."

I'm pretty sure I didn't know what a quesadilla was and it's possible they weren't allowed to cross the border into western PA. The only tacos I ever saw (until my late 20's) came out of a box. I had no clue taco shells didn't automatically taste stale.

 
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