Cafe Tacuba-Style Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

I've been cooking the recipes of Rick Bayless once a week for five full months now.  This recipe, for Cafe Tacuba-Style Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, is hands down my favorite Rick Bayless recipe from the whole five month period.  I am so glad I spotted this dish over on the Sweet Life or else I may have missed out on it's deliciousness.

These enchiladas are absolute perfection in my opinion.  The sauce is a flavorful and creamy combination of spinach and poblano chiles with just the right hint of garlic. That delicious sauce blankets the corn tortillas and chicken to make for one extremely comforting dish.  These enchiladas were pretty much inhaled at my house.  Next time around I'd consider doubling the recipe so there would be leftovers.

Instead of rolling individual enchiladas I chose to make more of an enchilada bake.  I used twelve corn tortillas, layering six of them on the bottom of the dish, adding the filling, then layering the remaining six corn tortillas on top (the directions below reflect this). This style is much easier, quicker, and way less messy and I like the end result just as well.  I would recommend this style over hand rolling twelve enchiladas any day of the week.  However, if you choose to hand roll the enchiladas then you will need to soften your corn tortillas by heating them until they are pliable and brushing them with a little oil so you can work with them.

One Note:  Once I assembled the enchilada bake I felt like there was way too much sauce to pour over the top.  I went ahead and poured all that sauce on anyway and I'm glad I did.  The enchiladas really soak up that sauce and everything turned out excellent.  So, if you decide to make this recipe, go ahead and pour all that sauce on top.  You'll be happy you did!

 

Cafe Tacuba-Style Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Adapted from SweetLife

Serves 4-6

2 poblano chiles

1 cup roughly chopped spinach leaves

2 cups milk

2 cups chicken broth

6 tablespoons butter 

 3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1/2 cup flour

salt

3 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (I bought a rotisserie chicken)

12 corn tortillas

A little vegetable oil for brushing or spraying

About 1 cup Mexican melting cheese (Chihuahua, quesadilla, asadero, monterrey jack, or mild cheddar)

cilantro for garnish

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Make the sauce– Roast the poblanos directly over a gas flame or a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler. Turning regularly, until the skins have blistered and blackened on all side, about 5 minutes for an open flame, about 10 minutes under the broiler. Cover with a kitchen towel and, when handleable, rub off the blackened skin, tear open and pull out the seed pod and stem. Quickly rinse to remove any stray seeds or bits of skin. Roughly chop and put in a blender jar. Add the spinach. 

 

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and broth, set over medium-low heat to warm.

 

In a large (4quart) saucepan, melt butter (or heat the oil) over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a minute to release its aroma, then add flour and stir the mixture for a minute. Raise the heat to medium-high.  Pour in the warm broth mixture and whisk constantly until the sauce boils. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. 

 

Pour half the hot sauce into the blender with the chiles and spinach. Cover loosely (I remove the center part of the lid, secure the lid, then drape a cloth over the whole thing.) and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining sauce. Taste and season well with salt, usually about 2 teaspoons. 

 

Finishing the enchiladas– smear about 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking dish. Stir 1 cup of the sauce into the chicken.  Next, lay half of the tortillas (six) on top of the sauce that you added to the 13 x9 baking dish.  Now lay all of the chicken mixture on top of the tortillas making sure to spread the chicken in an even layer on top of the tortillas.  Finally, layer the remaining six tortillas on top of the chicken and cover the tortillas with the remaining sauce (this will seems like a lot of sauce but the enchiladas really absorb it well so go ahead and use it all).  Top the sauce with the shredded cheese and place in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown.  Remove the enchiladas and garnish with cilantro.