Texas Enchiladas -- Pat’s Easy Specialty

 

I learned this Texas-Anglo enchilada dish during my Atlanta days from a friend who had grown up in Dallas. Pat, a professional woman and avid soccer player, professed to dislike cooking. She certainly disliked being fussy or spending unnecessary time in the kitchen. But her “go-to” guest dish, a Mexican-influenced, family favorite from her childhood, made Pat seem quite the chef.

 

Enchiladas, traditional in Mexico and the American Southwest, and a mainstay at Mexican-American restaurants, are basically tortillas wrapped around a filling and baked covered with a chile-containing sauce and cheese. Mexican enchiladas are typically made with corn tortillas. Pat’s use flour ones. And enchiladas would generally be baked covered with cheese plus a red or green chile sauce. Pat’s are covered with a dairy and cream soup mixture. In Mexico, white enchiladas, though infrequent, are made, though with corn tortillas. They are sometimes called  “Suizas” (meaning “Swiss-style”), indicating milk and cheese rather than red or green salsa.

 

Pat’s time-saving ingredients include prepared foods: canned soup, canned green chilies, packaged shredded cheese. And if it were available back then, she probably would have used a rotisserie chicken. The mildly spicy chicken enchiladas below are based on Pat’s recipe, but I modified it somewhat.

 

Beer would be the drink for a dish like this in either Texas or Mexico, a lager type of beer, not a hoppy IPA. But a Chardonnay will work too.

 

The recipe serves a crowd, at least six people, generously. Leftovers are nice. A colorful vegetable, some avocado, and maybe a simple lettuce and tomato salad would be attractive accompaniments.

 

1 rotisserie chicken

1-1/2 teaspoons salt for chicken

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 (4-ounce) cans jalapeño peppers, diced or sliced

8 (8-9-inch – fajita size) flour tortillas

1 (10-1/2-ounce) can Campbell’s condensed cream of chicken soup (if unsalted, add extra 1/2 teaspoon salt)

1 soup-can’s volumn of water

1 soup-can’s volumn of milk

1/2 teaspoon salt for the sauce

12 ounces shredded Mexican-style cheese or mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese

Sour cream for serving

 

Cut meat off chicken. (Reserve skin and bones for broth for other uses.) Pull meat apart into long pieces. Sprinkle chicken evenly with the salt and pepper. Toss to mix.

 

Drain jalapeños. If slices, chop them coarsley.

 

Lightly oil a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish or pan. Set oven for 375 degrees.

 

Lay tortillas out on flat surface. Place chicken down the middle of each. Sprinkle evenly with canned chilies. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Roll up tortillas and arrange in a single layer in the pan, seam side down.

 

In bowl, whisk together condensed soup, water and milk, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt. Spoon mixture evenly over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. (If desired, the casserole can be refrigerated at this point and baked closer to dinner time.)

 

Bake until thoroughly heated, bubbling and beginning to turn golden on top, 35-45  minutes.

 

Serve, accompanied with sour cream.