Red Chile Enchiladas with Chicken and Melted Cheese

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded & torn into flat pieces
• 2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil, plus extra for the tortillas
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 12 corn tortillas
• salt
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 lbs. coarsely shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Mexican melting cheese like Chihuahua, quesadilla, or asadero
• 1 small white onion, cut into rings, for garnish (optional)
• Cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from ellysaysopa.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350. Set a small or medium skillet over medium heat and once it’s hot, toast the chile pieces a few at a time, pressing them against the hot surface with a spatula until aromatic and lightened in color underneath–about 10 seconds per side. Transfer the toasted chiles to a blender, and add the garlic, tomatoes and juices, cumin and black pepper. Blend to as smooth a consistency as possible. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Set a mesh strainer over the pan and pour in the sauce. Press through the strainer to remove bits of chile skin. Then cook, stirring until the sauce is reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, 5 to 7 minutes.* Pour in the broth, reduce the heat to medium low and summer for 10 minutes. Taste the sauce and season with sugar and salt (Bayless says about 1.5 tsp. but I used closer to .5 tsp). Brush or spray both sides of the tortillas with oil and then stack in twos on a baking sheet. Bake just long enough to make them soft and pliable, about 3 minutes. Remove fro the oven and cover with a towel to keep warm. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over the bottom of a 13×9 baking dish, and stir another 1/2 cup sauce into the chicken. Lay out a warm tortilla, top with a portion of the chicken and roll up. Lay seam side down in the baking dish. Continue filling and rolling the rest of the tortillas and ladle the remaining sauce over the enchiladas* and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown. Garnish with onion rings and cilantro if desired.