Chicken Enchiladas with Cilantro Lime Rice

I normally make this recipe on a much larger scale, even making about 7 batches of this one Sunday in college for a group of hungry boy visitors, so I'll try to scale it down. Heck, there isn't even a real recipe, just a mixture of goodness stored in my head. This recipe will easily work with Turkey, and I'll also used shredded carnitas. So here it goes! I don't have any pictures, but a lot of the family has eaten this and can vouch for just how good it is.
 

Trust me, you'll never go back to that gross canned enchilada sauce once you try these.

Enchiladas
3 cups shredded chicken
1 can refried black beans
1 large jar of salsa
1 can corn
4 green onions, chopped (reserve a small amount for a garnish)
1 small can diced green chiles
4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 package medium sized corn tortillas, room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large pan, pour 1/3 jar of salsa on the bottom.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, refried black beans, 1/3 jar salsa, corn, onions, chiles, and 3 cups cheese. Mix well. I mix by hand. It's more fun that way.
Fill individual tortillas with small handfulls of chicken mixture.
Roll the tortillas around the mixture, and place rolled side down in the pan. If you find that the tortillas are breaking, make sure they aren't cold from the refrigerator. Microwave for a few seconds.
Once the pan is filled with enchiladas, cover with remaining salsa and top with cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until bubble.
Remove aluminum foil cover and allow to bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown a little.
Sprinkle chopped green onions over the top before serving.

Cilantro Lime Rice
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/3 bunch cilantro, chopped
zest of 1 lime
Juice of 3 limes
3 T. butter
2 cups rice
2 cups water (You'll need more or less, depending on how much juice you get from the limes)
Salt to taste

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add chopped onion.
When the onion is half-way cooked, add rice, and coat with butter. Let the rice start to absorb the butter and onion flavor for just about a minute.
To the lime juice, add enough water to equal 3 cups. Add to rice.
Cover and cook until all of the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
Before serving, add the lime zest, and chopped cilantro.
Salt to taste. I like to salt it afterwards to check the flavor contrast with the citrus and cilantro.


*If you don't want to do a traditional rolled enchilada, this recipe works great for an enchilada casserole. Layer salsa, tortillas, chicken mixture, and cheese on top of one another, like a lasagna. Follow the same baking directions.

Comments

MarySue said…
I'll fix this in Oregon! Thanks for sharing.

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