Friday, April 15, 2011

Enchifajitas? Fajitaladas? Does it Matter?


We had good friends over for dinner and Susan (she of Fake It Til You Make It fame) requested enchiladas. I blithely said sure and kept this little secret to myself: I had actually never made enchiladas before.

I know, I know, it seems incredible after this many decades of cooking but so it goes. I had made tacos and burritos and even fajitas but never enchiladas. I also had never eaten an enchilada — none of which I was going to share with Susan. After all, she can still whip out the Cool Whip story on any given day in front of anyone. (See same post on Fake It Til You Make It.)

Anyway, I have a fair amount of faith in my cooking so I wasn't that worried. I did a little research online and most of the recipes seemed to call for chicken and cheese with sauce and little else. That seemed a little boring to me, so I decided to saute some onions and peppers and add them to the mix.

The result was a fajita/enchilada mix, and, I am happy to report, Susan pronounced them tasty. Another bullet dodged.

Enchifajitas
serves 5-6

ingredients
6 enchilada size flour tortillas
4 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large red pepper, sliced
1-2 yellow peppers (1 if large, 2 if medium), sliced
1 medium red onion, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
1 1/2 cups or so grated cheddar cheese
1 large teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 bottle enchilada sauce (I like Trader Joe's myself)
salt, pepper to taste

method
In a large sauce pan, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and saute the onions and peppers with the spices until just tender. Remove from the pan to a bowl. Add the chicken pieces to the same pan and saute until just cooked. Remove and place into the bowl. Toss with the grated cheese. Taste and adjust spices.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Divide the mixture evenly into six tortillas and roll them up. Place in a baking pan withe seam side down. Pour the sauce over the tortillas. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

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