Chicken Enchiladas with Hatch Chili Cream Sauce

This past weekend I went with my two life long best friends to the lake for our girl's lake house trip. The two of them are wonderful little chef's and we had a great time cooking up a storm. After a fun run to the small town of Mabank's Walmart (okay, and I hit Whole Foods before we got on the road) we were ready to go, each of us taking our parts. I even got myself a veggie steamer!

Katie - leading the charge on the enchiladas
Greer - making her famed G-Mama Guacamole
Amy - a delicious black bean and corn salsa, along with never letting our margarita glasses go empty... until we had run out of margarita mix... and tequila.

In our weekend planning emails, we decided we wanted a Mexican fiesta night, so I did a google search for chicken enchiladas. Came across a a website with a sour cream poblano sauce. When I got to the grocery store, I decided to replace the poblano peppers with hatch chili peppers, tis the season!

Grocery List:
For enchiladas
2 cups Rotisserie shredded chicken
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup monterray jack cheese, shredded
8 - 10 tortillas (we used both whole wheat and flour to appeal to different tastes)
1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped

For hatch chili cream sauce
1 large shallot, finely minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 hatch green chilies
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups chicken broth

First, start by carving the rotisserie chicken and shredding the chicken.




Next, de-stem and seed your peppers. Cut poblano peppers in half, remove all seeds and stem.



At this point, do not rub or itch your eyes. I now know what pepper spray must feel like.

Roast peppers in the oven at 450 degrees until skin begins to blister and turn black in spots, which should take about 10 -15 minutes.


While the peppers are peppering, combine the first 8 ingredients for the enchiladas in a bowl, then set aside.


Once the peppers are done, let cool and remove the black spots from the skin, then chop up the peppers into small bits.






To make the cream sauce, cut up the shallot and garlic, then saute in a pan with the butter until softened and fragrant.


Add the peppers and spices and cook for another minute.


Mix the sour cream and the flour in a separate bowl.


Add to the skillet followed by the chicken broth - add the chicken broth slowly, I'm not sure I used a full 2 cups, just added as I went to thin out the mixture. I probably used 1 & 3/4 cup. After a taste test, I felt it needed more sour cream so I added another spoon full.





Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, wisk and simmer until the sauce is thick and creamy. Now, it might be time to refill your margarita. It was for us.


I also decided it needed about 1/3 cup of cheese.


Measure out 3/4 cup of your sauce and add it to the filling mixture, stir and combine well.




Use about two spoonfuls of enchilada filling to the tortillas, then roll and place face down in an oven-safe baking dish.




Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce, then cover with monterrey jack cheese and garnish with green onions.






Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until browning and bubbly.


As we made our enchiladas, here are a few pics of G's Guac and Amy's black bean and corn salsa...






Here is the final product and it was incredible!