Monday, May 13, 2013

Pepper Jack Enchiladas for SRC

 This is my entry for the Secret Recipe Club event this month.    And even though every recipe I've posted so far this month is Mexican inspired, I do know how to cook other kinds of food.

Just saying...

 I gotta admit, this was a no brainer, and in fact I didn't look any further on Robin's blog once I found this recipe for Pepper Jack Enchilada's.  But she does have some other great recipes, check her out.
Sorry, didn't get a shot before I started eating...

  If you read this blog at all, you know I like spicy food, especially Mexican inspired spicy food.

The Secret Recipe Club is a bunch of bloggers who get assigned someone else' blog in the group and are asked to make a recipe from that blog.    We don't know who gets our blog, and at a set time we reveal the recipes we choose to make that month.   We all "REVEAL" the recipes we made at the same time, and then have fun going from one blog to another looking at the recipes.   Which works out really well for me.  I just look at the pictures posted, and then go happily from blog to blog, looking and drooling and bookmarking recipes to make later on.   Then I realize that 'gee, I have them at the bottom of my post so I can go there any time I want' and then I un-bookmark them. 

Pepper Jack Enchilada's
Robin used ground turkey, but I had some chicken breasts languishing in the freezer, that needed to be cooked and eaten so I elected to use them in this recipe.   I usually use flour tortillas when making enchilada's but decided to go ahead and use some white corn tortilla's I'd bought awhile ago and thrown into the freezer.   But when I took them out of the freezer, there was a hole in the bag and they smelled like freezer so I chucked them and used my usual flour tortillas.

 I took my chicken breasts out and just fried them in a little olive oil, just til they browned and cooked through.  Seasoned them with a touch of salt, just one grind per breast.  I actually had three breasts, well, halves, if you want to be specific.   I cooked all three, and then put the spare breast in the freezer after I cooked it.

Let me just meander around a little here, I try to keep some cooked meats in the freezer for those days when I want to make a quick dinner and don't feel like making a whole meal from scratch.  With cooked chicken breasts or just some cooked chicken in the freezer, you can make so many dishes and have dinner on the table in a short period of time.  Now that I've got that said, I'll climb down off of my soapbox and get to cooking.

I shredded/chopped the chicken a little and then added it to the sautee'd onions and peppers.












Grated the Pepper Jack cheese and set it aside.   I did add some Colby Jack cheese as well.  Just cause I had some already shredded.

 I also had some frozen Enchilada sauce I'd already doctored that had been left over from another recipe, so I unfroze it or would that be thawed? At any rate I heated the sauce up and put it aside for a minute. 

Here's Robin's recipe, my changes are in blue to the side.

Pepper Jack Enchilada's
1lb ground turkey (or beef)  (2 chicken breasts, baked and shredded)
1/4 c each diced onion, celery, and red bell pepper (I used a Vidalia Onion and an Anaheim Pepper)
2 cans enchilada sauce (I think they were about 10oz each) (I used some frozen enchilada sauce I'd already doctored up.   I usually add equal amounts of spicy or regular chicken stock to the enchilada sauce and then thicken it with a roux made of equal parts flour and vegetable oil) 
6 oz shredded pepper jack cheese
corn tortillas  (I used my flour tortillas cause my corn ones had gotten nasty in the freezer)

Heat oven to 350*
Brown meat with onion, celery, and peppers. (I sauteed the onion and an Anaheim pepper, then added that to the shredded chicken and added half the Pepper Jack Cheese to the chicken mixture.)
Drain and add 1/2 cup enchilada sauce
Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of 9x13 pan.
Heat the tortillas in the microwave to soften.   (Warmed the remaining enchilada sauce, then dip a tortilla into that, after which you add the meat mixture)

Spoon 1/4 cup meat onto the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place in the pan. I had to use a toothpick to hold some of them together. (After dipping the tortilla in the warmed Enchilada Sauce, I placed a heaping spoonful of the meat mixture onto the tortilla and rolled it up, placing it in the greased baking dish, seam side down)

Top with the rest of the enchilada sauce and the cheese.
Bake about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts. Be sure to remove toothpicks if you used them!

My note here, you can also throw this dish into the microwave for a few minutes, just until the cheese melts and they are heated through.  Finish off in the oven under the broil setting to get a nice melt on top.

 Serve with a nice cold beverage of your choice.

I will make these again, they had a lovely kick from the Pepper Jack Cheese, and in fact they might just be fun to make for one of our many potluck get togethers, hmmmmm....  Sorry, just got to thinking here.



Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

5 comments:

  1. I've received email from several people that they would like to comment on my blog, but Google + is trying to 'make them join' to be able to comment so...
    I disabled my Google + comments for my blog, so am copying the lovely comments made from some of my readers here;

    Miz Helen commented on your blog post
    Hi Sid,
    Your Pepper Jack Enchilada's look awesome and would be great at any potluck. This is a great recipe choice for the SRC.
    Have a fun week!
    Miz Helen

    Shelley C commented on your blog post
    Yum. I mean... yum. I love enchiladas. And now I am hungry for some :) Great choice!

    Judee Algazi commented on your blog post
    Love the pepper jack idea. Looks like a very interesting recipe.

    Heather S commented on your blog post
    Looks delicious! I like the addition of pepper jack for a spicy kick. Great SRC choice!

    Lea Ann Brown commented on your blog post
    I guess I better start reading her blog, I do a lot of Mexican/Southwest also.
    Love this recipe. A must try for me. Great SRC choice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enchiladas are one of our favorites. These look delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Sid! Thanks for the tip about baking with the homemade butter! I couldn't believe how easy it was to make. Everything you make looks so tasty. I love enchiladas. I love anything with cheese on it actually!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome. I love the taste of home made butter myself, and usually make it if I have leftover heavy cream from another recipe. And to think I used to just whip the cream and freeze, but making butter is a lot more fun.
      Personally I think Cheese is one of the major food groups anyway, so always add cheese, maybe you could even say everything is better with cheese?

      Delete

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