Shredded Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce

Recently I put a new 'Link Within' feature on the blog at the bottom of each post. It's made me examine past posts that I never otherwise would have looked at since anytime I preview a post, there those old posts are, staring me in the face. I never realized just how absolutely horrible my pictures used to be! I knew they were bad, but I guess I blocked out just how bad. I decided I needed a makeover on a lot of those posts, and I'm starting with this recipe for chicken enchiladas with white sauce since I was craving it for dinner tonight. This recipe was originally posted as a part of a Foodbuzz 24x24, which I'm pretty sure they don't do anymore. It was made completely from scratch, including the corn tortillas. I didn't have time for that kind of stuff tonight, but I will say that corn tortillas rather than flour tortillas are a must. These are quick and easy enchiladas that are basically from scratch. They're cheesy and delicious, and I could never resist these, especially since Mexican food is my favorite cuisine after cupcakes.

The funny thing is that after reading over the old post I realize that absolutely nothing has changed since then, and that was almost a year ago. Jason still always picks On the Border for dinner, still consistently orders the fajitas and strawberry-mango frozen margarita, and I'm still making boxed fajita mix for him since it's just about the only Mexican food I make that he'll eat. The one earth-shattering exception is that I recently started making garlic shrimp to go with the chicken fajitas to make them more like On the Border, and Jason approves. Crazy!

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce
yield: serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS
For the shredded chicken filling:
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp canola oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

For the white sauce:
3 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or milk
3 ounce can diced chiles, drained
5 ounces monterey jack or cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 tsp paprika

To assemble:
10 soft corn tortillas
3 ounces monterey jack and cheddar cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS
To make the chicken: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken into the skillet to brown,  2-3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan.

Lower the heat to medium low and add in the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the onion and sautee until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more. Remove from the heat and stir in the chicken broth, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Place the chicken back in the skillet. Cover with aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Let cool before shredding chicken with forks (it will be very tender).

Meanwhile, prepare the white sauce: in a medium saucepan over medium heat add the oil. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the chiles and the cheese until melted. Stir in the paprika.

To assemble the enchiladas: begin by softening the tortillas - heat the tortillas all together under a damp towel in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Alternatively, heat the tortillas one-by-one over direct heat on a burner until just browned. Keep warm under a towel during assembly. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In an 8x8 baking dish or pie dish pour in enough white sauce to coat the bottom. Carefully roll each tortilla with some of the shredded chicken and nestle in the pan. Cover with more white sauce and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

SOURCE
Sarah Cupcake original, inspired by the Pioneer Woman