Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Squash
Sent to us by CSA customer! The original recipe doesn’t call for squash, but they say it’s better with squash and I trust them.
Ingredients
- Sea salt
- 3 skinless, boneless chicken-breast halves
- A summer squash or zucchini
- A tablespoon of olive oil (or more, depending on how you like it)
- 2 pounds tomatillos, papery skin removed
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large white onions, peeled, 1 chopped, the other sliced into rings
- 2 tablespoons minced jalapeño
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 12 corn tortillas
- 8 ounces queso añejo or cotija, crumbled
- Mexican crema or crème fraîche for serving
Preparation
- Roast the squash. Pre-heat oven to 425. Slice lengthwise, salt, and lay on a paper towel to sweat out some water. After 10 min, dab dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with olive oil and roast for 10-15 minutes until brown on one side. Flip to other side and roast until slightly brown again - more like 5-10 minutes on that side. Set aside and eventually chop up into pieces.
- Meanwhile, cook the chicken. Bring a pan of salted water to a simmer and poach the chicken over low heat until just cooked through, about 9 minutes. Remove to a bowl. Let cool. With your fingers, finely shred the chicken. Lightly season with salt, toss to mix and set aside.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. Cut the tomatillos in half. Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to fit the tomatillos in 1 layer. When the oil shimmers, add the chopped onion and jalapeño and sauté until the onion is softened at the edges. Add the tomatillos, season with salt and continue cooking until wilted. Turn off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Pour the tomatillos into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add the cilantro. Adjust the seasoning. Pour the sauce into a shallow bowl (folks, this is basically the recipe for tomatillo salsa — if you don’t need all of this salsa, save it and eat with chips)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish and spread a little sauce on the bottom. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, soften each in a dry, hot skillet for about 8 seconds per side, then coat lightly with sauce. Lay each tortilla on a plate and sprinkle about 1/4 cup of shredded chicken and a small handful of chopped squash in the middle and roll into a cylinder. Repeat, lining up tortillas tightly in the dish.
- Spread the rest of the sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle with queso añejo. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes longer, until the queso añejo is melted. Dollop with crema, garnish with onion rings and serve with additional crema.
