This isn't anything too crazy. You don't need to go to culinary school to master this. Ultimately, it's an enchilada. It isn't rocket science. But it's a damn good enchilada.
Holly would like everyone to know that they are her favorite enchiladas. She also says she wants them right now.
Tough luck Holly...
The first thing you should do is head to a Mexican grocer. You're going to need chihuahua cheese, Mexican oregano, and two types of dried peppers: guajillos and anchos. You can find all these things other places, but usually not in one location.
The second thing you should do is smoke some chicken breasts. Actual chicken breasts, with bones and skin. Bones and skin have flavor, and fat. Boneless-skinless chicken is the devil, and I hate it. But I digress...
So smoke some chicken breasts. Three of them. You can do this a day ahead of time if you like. If you don't have a smoker, you can accomplish the same thing using indirect heat with coals and wood chips on a Weber kettle. Or you can search around online and find all sorts of ways to build a makeshift smoker from household items. A baking pan, a metal cookie tin, or even a cardboard box can easily be rigged. And google is more than willing to teach you.
One more thing about the chicken- cook it to an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees. The temp will carry-over an additional 5-7 degrees, and will be moist and wonderful. I know everyone wants to cook chicken to death, up to like 175 or whatever the hell they tell you to, but it's totally not necessary. Any bacteria still living at 150 will be living at 200, so the hell with it. Just go crazy. Live dangerously.
When your chicken breasts have cooled enough that they are easy to handle, shred them. By hand. And then move on to the sauce.
Here's were the whole thing comes together. The sauce. There are a few steps, so don't get intimidated. It's all pretty simple. Just bear with me here...
Start with the chile peppers. Take four or five each of the anchos and the guajillos, cut the tops off with a scissors, and dump most of the seeds. Cut the remaining pieces into about two-inch chunks, and bring them to a boil in about two cups of water. Once boiling, kill the heat and cover the pot, allowing them to sit for about 15 minutes.
In the mean time, add these items to a food processor: 3 Tomatoes, quartered (Homegrown are best, the higher the quality, the better). 1 medium sized white onion, roughly chopped. A half dozen cloves of garlic. A tablespoon each of fresh black pepper, dried thyme, and the Mexican oregano. A pinch each of ground cloves and cinnamon. One bay leaf.
Now fish the chiles out of the water and add them also. Pour about a cup of the steeping water into the processor, and fire it up. You want this to be pretty liquefied, so keep going until there are no large chunks.
Strain the mix into a pot. Ideally, you want to use a chinois. Now I realize that normal people don't keep a chinois in their homes, so you can also use a fine wire mesh strainer (pushing the mix through with a rubber spatula) or, if need be, a pair of pantyhose. Clean, unused pantyhose preferably. Yeah. I know it's absurd. But just scoop it all into one of the legs and continually massage it until have removed all the fluid and have nothing left behind other than seeds and pulp. You will not be able to re use the pantyhose. Ha ha.
Hang in there we're almost done!
Over medium heat, cook the sauce paste down some, until it's reduced about one-third. Stir it constantly, be careful not to burn it, and don't get it on your skin. It will burn you, and stick to the flesh like napalm. Once adequately reduced, add about a cup of chicken stock and a pinch of sugar. Allow this to simmer for perhaps 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
During this 20 minutes, shred about three cups of the chihuahua cheese. Then put your chicken into a large pan. Add a couple ounces of lime juice and about a handful of fresh minced cilantro. Mix and heat, but don't keep heating, because you don't want to overcook your chicken. Once hot, add a large handful of the shredded chihuahua cheese and a few ounces of the sauce. Stir. Don't add too much sauce or cheese. You don't want the mixture to be soupy, or gooey. Just moist and bound together.
Now assemble. Place about five ounces of the chicken mixture onto a tortilla, roll it up, and place it into a baking pan which has been lightly sprayed. Continue until you run out of tortillas or the mix, placing the enchiladas side by side.
Brush or carefully pour a light layer of sauce over the enchiladas, and top with a generous layer of the remaining chihuahua cheese. Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about ten minutes, or until the cheese just starts to brown. I suggest that you avoid the temptation to eat one immediately and allow them to rest for ten minutes instead. Trust me on that one...
If you have any unused sauce, it will keep in your refrigerator for about a week. Or you can freeze it, and it's good for a month.
It seems like a lot of work, but it's worth it. You won't be disappointed. With a little experience and some proper planning, it can be done in less than an hour. Be warned, however... If you aren't a very experienced and tidy cook, your kitchen will be ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED.
That's ok though.
Just clean it tomorrow....
I want some!
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