Cost Breakdown

Recipe Making Process

Before you begin cooking, it’s important that you have the proper ingredients. I have observed that all of these ingredients can always be found at local grocery stores. You won’t typically find these ingredients at farmers markets (aside from maybe onions and garlic cloves) because they’re not typically locally grown or produced locally. However, you can still find produce and ingredients of decent quality at any local grocery store, especially from June until September.

Note: in this version of the recipe, we used 2 cans of black beans, but the original recipe calls for 9 oz of cooked and shredded chicken breast. This was to make the recipe more budget friendly.

To begin any recipe, it is important to have everything you need out and ready before you begin cooking, ensuring that everything is in its place. This is called Mise en Place (meez-ahn-plahs). Included in this process would be:

• Preheating the oven (if the recipe calls for it)
• Gathering the needed materials (i.e., pots, pans, cutting and stirring tools)
• Chopping and preparing ingredients
• Measuring the seasonings and/or spices involved

All these should be ready for use before you begin cooking.

Note: If you decided to use chicken boullion cubes, paste, or powder, begin preparing that (as per directions on packaging) before or while you are sautéing the onion and garlic.

To begin preparing the ingredients, start by chopping the onion into small pieces, and mincing the garlic into even smaller pieces. Set aside.

Chop or mince the cilantro (per preference) and set aside, then drain and rinse the black beans in a strainer, and set aside.

Measure out each of the seasonings and spices, and dump each into a bowl and set aside as well.

Now that everything is ready to go, you can begin the cooking process. We will begin by heating the oil over medium-high heat on the stove in a large sauce pan or pot.

• I like to use a large pot big enough that will hold all of the ingredients, therefore, using one pot for the whole process. This makes cleanup much easier and faster because of less dishes.

To determine if the oil is heated enough, check to see if there’s almost a shimmer, glaze, or almost ripple affect on the top of the oil (you can find examples of this online). Once you see this, you may add the prepared onion and garlic to begin sautéing. This should only take about 2 min, stirring consistently (stir, pause, stir, pause, etc.).

Once the onion has turned almost an opaque or clear color, being softer and more fragrant, you may add the tomato sauce, chicken broth/stock, chicken (or black beans), cilantro, chili powder, cuman, oregano, and salt.

Bring to a light boil, then reduce (lower) the heat to low or “sim” and let your enchilada filling simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce reduces (lessens or decreases) and the flavors combine.

At this point, you can taste the filling and see if you would like to add anymore seasonings or spices. Personally, I typically add a little more chili powder, cumin, and oregano to help make those flavors taste more prevalent.

Note: If your filling is too thick, you can add some more chicken broth/stock, or a little bit of water (not too much). If your sauce is still very liquidy, you can add more chicken or black beans. However, be careful not to get too much liquid in the tortillas when filling them with the filling. Also, the filling is not too spicy, most of the spice will come from your enchilada sauce.

Once you are satisfied with your filling, you can take a 9×13 greased pan, and take 8 enchiladas (one at a time), put 1/3 cup of the filling in each one (or however much you would like)

Roll the enchiladas by first folding the right and left sides on top of the filling (barely), then taking the side closest to you and folding it over (covering filling completely) to the other side, then in a rolling motion, roll the enchilada the rest of the way, ensuring that the seam is on the bottom of each enchilada.

Once you’ve completed filling each tortilla and using all of the filling, it’s time to take your can of enchilada sauce and pour it over each enchilada. Try to cover as much tortilla as possible to prevent burning or crispy edges in the oven (unless that’s what you’re going for).

Then take your cheese and sprinkle it on top. You can use more or less of what the recipe calls for, that’s completely up to you!

After you’ve added the sauce and cheese, take some tin foil and cover the 9×13 pan, shiny side down (this helps keep the hot air inside of the pan, circulating it and cooking/melting the cheese more evenly).

Carefully place the tin foil, verifying that it’s not touching the cheese (once the cheese is melted, it can stick to the foil, making it difficult to remove).

Place your pan in the oven (preheated at 400°F), and bake for about 20-25 min, or until the cheese is melted.

When the cheese has melted, you may remove the enchiladas from the oven, turn the oven off, and let the enchiladas sit for about 5-10 min with or without the tin foil on.

• Keeping the tin foil on will make the enchiladas remain warmer longer, but could cause the steam to concentrate on the surface of the foil and drip down onto the enchiladas.

Now it’s time to plate and enjoy! We loved having sour cream on top of our enchiladas, but you can also use cilantro, scallions, extra cheese, the list goes on! We also like to pair our enchiladas with mango, peaches, or other fresh fruit, as well as cilantro lime rice. Enjoy!

Budget friendly:

To make this recipe more cost-efficient and budget friendly, we replaced the chicken with black beans, and we used chicken boullion paste in place of the pre-made chicken broth or stock (which we needed to add more water and seasonings to balance out the taste).

Some other ways that you can make this more efficient is:

• Replacing the onion with onion powder – 1 tablespoon of onion powder for 1 medium-sized fresh onion (about 1/2 cup chopped)
• Replacing garlic with garlic powder – 1/4 tsp of garlic powder for one fresh garlic clove, or 1/2 tsp of garlic powder for every 1 tsp of minced garlic.

However, if you use the powders in place of the fresh produce, DO NOT sauté, as this won’t help with the flavor development of the powders. You can instead either omit the oil intended to be used to sauté with, or you can add a smaller portion of that oil (1/2 or 1/3 the original amount).

You can then add the powders when you add the other seasonings.

Another way to make this recipe more budget friendly is to purchase the store or generic brands of the ingredients, not the name brands.

Cooking Techniques

Knife skills – To properly hold a knife, you need to keep your fingers away from the cutting edge of the blade, and use the “pinch hold method” – this refers to holding the handle of the knife in the palm of your hand with your middle, ring finger, and pinkie wrapped around the it, and your index finger and thumb pinching the blade just past the handle.

Measuring – Using measuring cups and spoons, properly portion out each ingredient to get the amount needed for the recipe.

Sautéing – A dry heat method, sautéing is just using a small amount of fat (oil), and cooking something small at a high temperature, very quickly (i.e., onions and garlic).

Boiling – A moist heat method, boiling is just heating up liquid (typically water) to the point of vaporization (steam), causing consistent bubbles to break through the surface tension of the water or liquid.

Reduction (reduce) – Typically a moist or combination method, reduction just refers to the process of boiling or simmering a liquid to make the water in the food evaporate, causing the base to thicken, and the flavors to condense and concentrate.

Baking – A dry heat method, baking (or roasting) is just cooking food in the oven without the presence of water or an open flame, creating a fairly even way of cooking throughout the product.

So-Addicted Chicken Enchiladas

Author: SkinnyTaste Cookbook Cooking Method:Sautéing Boiling Baking Cuisine:American Mexican Courses:Lunch, Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time: 40 minutesRest time: 5 minutesTotal time:1 hour Cooking Temp:400 FServings:4-8 servingsEstimated Cost:19.29 $Calories:210 kcal Best Season:Spring, Summer, Fall

Ingredients

• 1 tsp, Canola/Olive Oil
• 1 cup, Onion, chopped
• 2 large Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup, Canned Tomato Sauce
• 1/3 cup, Chicken Broth
• 9 oz cooked shredded chicken (substitue with 2 cans (15 oz each), Black Beans)
• 1/4 cup, plus 1 Tbsp Cilantro
• 1 tsp, Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp, Cumin
• 1/2 tsp, Oregano
• 3/4 tsp, Salt
• 8 Taco-sized Tortillas
• 1 1/2 cup, Red Enchilada Sauce (or one 10 oz can)
• 1 cup, Mexican/Cheddar Cheese (or to your hearts desire)
• 4 Tbsp, Sour Cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (204 °C).
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over low heat.
3. Add the onion and garlic, and sauté until soft but not browning. This should be about 2 minutes.
4. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, cooked chicken, 1/4 cup of the cilantro, the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt.
5. Simmer until the flavors blend and the sauce reduces, about 4-5 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat
6. Spray a 13×9-inch baking dish (or your favorite deep dish for baking) with oil or cooking spray. Can substitute with butter if you do not have oil or spray.
7. Put 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each tortilla, rolling them up as described above. One at a time, until all your mixture is used up.
8. Place the rolled-up tortillas seam side down in the baking dish and top with enchilada sauce and then the cheese.
9. Cover the dish with foil, making sure the top doesn’t touch the cheese. Bake until hot and the cheese is melted, 20-25 minutes.
10. Serve with extra cheese, cilantro, and sour cream, and enjoy!

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