In a sauce pan, heat butter (amount your choice—flour should be equal). This makes a roux, or a thickening base for a sauce. Pronounced rue. Cook it gently til slightly brown and until it doesn’t taste of raw flour.
Then you add: sufficient chicken broth (Swansons sells a good one with a good shelf life.)
A mini-can of mild diced chilis (drained.)
Enough sour cream to get it to the consistency you want. Cook a bit, stir.
Form enchiladas by putting cooked (I don’t care how they get cooked, but cooked) chicken bits in a stripe down the middle of a flour tortilla, add cheese of your choice, but mild and white is traditional, then roll, place in pan, and pour white sauce over it all.
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.
My source didn’t give amounts, but I’d say if you aim for 2 cups of sauce, enough to handle 4 chicken enchiladas, you want about a third of a cup of roux, of which the flour is the main solid, a half a cup of chicken broth, the chilis, and about a cup of sour cream.
I’m going to try this. I’ve done it without the roux or broth and it’s pretty good, but the rest of the recipe should make it pro.
That looks like it could easily be upscaled to feed a herd. Another good thing to do with the leftover turkey!
Yep. It would work. I generally buy Ortega brand taco spice, and find it makes a nice middle-of-the-road spice to give a little zing to chicken: I plan to sprinkle that in before rollup.
Maybe some jalapenos.
You could also modify this sauce to Italian by leaving out the chilis and subbing in some grated cheeses, to use on chicken alfredo, I suspect. Or turkey alfredo. A little oregano, basil, etc.
If you’re ‘repurposing’ a whole turkey: dice it well, and freeze it in ziplocs appropriate to the dishes you typically cook. Company is a two-bag proposition. Most cuisines ‘of the people’ use pre-cooked meat. Back in the day, before refrigeration, when you got meat, you cooked it which re-sets the clock on ‘good’. You can leave cooked bacon or a porkchop on the counter for a couple of days with no worry, so long as you don’t let insects or pets at it. Chicken, a day on the counter is just fine. And NOBODY washed or refrigerated their eggs until just before use, you’d wash same. To this day, I use the mud room in winter as a spare fridge: it’s actually colder in there. 😉 But I’m in WA.
When I cook for the holidays, I’m lazy: I reuse and recycle. I will simmer overnight in a crockpot giblets and veggies for stock to make gravy, and augment it with pan drippings. Then, after the turkey has been consumed and stripped, the carcass will go into the now-empty crockpot, be covered with water, and simmered some more to make turkey broth. I won’t bother rinsing out the gravy remnants; that will just kick up the broth a notch.
Sounds great for leftover turkey, jumbo shrimp, military intelligence…. 😉
Interesting: http://io9.com/11-of-the-weirdest-solutions-to-the-fermi-paradox-456850746
The Fermi Paradox, just for people who know too many paradoxes to remember the names, is where are the aliens? #4 is very amusing. #11 is very interesting: the balloon is going up, the penny is dropping, the cliché is clenching–it’s like the start of any 4X space game.
The link from #11 is a bit troublesome. Direct to the academic PDF: http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9901322v1.pdf
Having participated in the “Galaxy Zoo” classification of SDSS/HST-DF galaxies, I’d say #11 seems pretty plausible to me. Seen some interesting mergers and collisions I wouldn’t want to be living anywhere near in space-time.
So you can buy both red and green enchilada sauce at the grocery. Then you make the enchilada’s, stuffed as desired. Align them all nicely in your rectangular baking pan. On the left third you spoon on the green enchilada sauce, CJ’s white sauce on the middle third, and the red sauce on the right third. Take some chopped olives and make a little circular sort of design in the center of the white strip, and VIOLA! 🙂 🙂 🙂 How could you make any pan of enchiladas any more appropriate? 😉
I know. I like transposing the letters. 😉
A word of caution, there is a recall out on some of the Ortega taco products…
THanks on that recall—I doublechecked it: it’s a peanut allergy recall, and not a problem for us. And we don’t use the product in the package sizes that have the problem. But a good thing to know.
That sounds superb. Copying to file. Thanks to all for suggestions, I’ll be checking back.
I’ve decided on a good roast and veggies for Thanksgiving, since it’s just the cats and myself, and I haven’t fixed a roast in a long while.
There will likely be pumpkin pie too, a mince pie (minced fruit), or something else nice. (Pecan pie is way too rich for me lately, I’d rather have the pecans in somehting else.) I’ll likely do fresh cranberry sauce, if they have plenty of cranberries.
However, I really enjoy Mexican food, but don’t often cook it myself. I’ll enjoy trying this. — I did get a cookbook, which I’ll also try.
LOL, my second and most recent attempt at turkey stock was, well, it was comedic, and then stayed in the fridge too long. Over-ambitious at that point. — But homemade, condensed stock sounds like a good idea still.
I’m not expecting company for the holidays, but really need to get the house in better shape for my own peace of mind, and just in case I do hear from anyone.
Finally, cold weather here the past several days. Very welcome. — The cats make great foot/leg warmers on the bed. 😀
BCS, the best use I know for cranberries is Cranberry Margaritas! If you freeze the berries, you won’t need to use ice (why dilute the good stuff?). 3/4 of a bag of frozen berries, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of good tequila (Hornitos is a favorite), 1/4 cup Gran Marnier (much better than triple sec), sugar to taste, and spin up the blender. Thin with just enough cranberry juice to get a nice thick consistency that just barely flows. Yum!
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Though I do love cranberry relish made by combining fresh cranberries, a quartered orange, walnut halves and sugar to taste in a food processor (try a little lemon juice, too). Process to a nice chunky, rustic consistency and get out a big spoon!
Thanks! I know just about zero about any mixed drinks, wines, beers, etc. However, I do like a margarita occasionally. One of the few I do know. Hmm, which reminds me to buy tequila, mix, and besides, to try that recipe. 🙂 Cheers!
Hah, out with a friend once, I did learn that mixing orange juice and vodka (screwdriver?) was (IMHO) a terrible thing to do to good orange juice or likely to good vodka, which surely must be better any other way. ^_^
One of the volunteers here at work passed along a bottle of amaretto with about 1/2c left in it; she said she didn’t need it any more. I believe amaretto cheesecake will be making an appearance this Thanksgiving.
Amaretto cheesecake would be an excellent choice, but if you lack the time, there is always “blueberry tea” Equal parts amaretto and grand marnier (or other orange liqueur) in large cup of strong, hot tea. For some reason it does taste like blueberries even though it is completely devoid of them. Proportions vary depending on whether you are trying to warm your toes or numb them clear to the knees. [This has always been my go-to anesthetic when those around me are having Irish coffees]
Yeah, orange and vodka is a screwdriver, not only the favored tipple of Ms. Emory but many others besides (though I mix gin screwdrivers in preference to vodka).
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I can offer a really simple and excellent alcoholic dessert (as opposed to a dessert for alcoholics, though this would probably serve in that regard as well 🙂 ), as follows:
Black Russian Cake
Combine chocolate cake mix, 1 small pkg instant chocolate pudding, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup instant espresso powder, 1 tablespoon instant coffee, 3/4 cup salad (Canola) oil, 1/2 cup Kahlua, 1/4 cup vodka, and 1/4 cup creme de cacao. Beat thoroughly, then pour into a bundt pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Toothpick test for doneness. Fight over who gets to lick the beaters.
Glaze – there’s lots of options, but my favorite is: 1/6th cup butter, melted in heavy-bottomed saucepan. Remove from heat; add the zest from one orange and 1 cup powdered sugar. Whisk until well mixed, adding very small amounts of orange juice as needed until consistency is right, then pour over the warm cake.
(cook’s note: if enough batter survives the mixing process, this also makes excellent cupcakes)
Apologies if this shows up twice, I hit ‘Post’ last night and I still don’t see it.
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Yeah, BCS, that’s a screwdriver. Vodka and orange may be Ari’s favorite, but I prefer gin screwdrivers.
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Here’s a can’t-miss alcoholic dessert (as opposed to a dessert for alcoholics, though now that you mention it… 😉 )
Black Russian Cake:
Combine a chocolate cake mix with 1 small packet instant chocolate pudding, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup salad (Canola) oil, 3/4 cup instant espresso powder, 1 Tbsp instant coffee, 1/2 cup Kahlua. 1/4 cup vodka, and 1/4 cup creme de cacao. Beat thoroughly and pour into a bundt pan, then bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Toothpick test for doneness. Fight over who gets to lick the beaters.
Tons of options for a glaze, but my favorite is:
Melt 1/6th cup butter in heavy-bottomed small saucepan, remove from heat and add zest of one orange and 1 cup powdered sugar. Whisk thoroughly, adding very small amounts of orange juice until consistency is right, then pour over still-warm cake.
The only difficulty involved is that the batter is so yummy, enough people will have sampled it that you may have to make cupcakes instead of a cake.
Enjoy!
Highly similar: yellow cake mix plus small vanilla instant pudding mix plus eggs plus oil plus 1 Tbsp nutmeg plus 1 cup bourbon (or sherry or rum) gives you a spice cake that is pretty great. I use the same glaze as in the Black Russian cake.
Add some Galliano[*] to taste making a “Harvey Wallbanger”. Much better IMO, even without the vodka. 🙂
* Galliano has numerous natural ingredients, including vanilla, star anise, Mediterranean anise, ginger, citrus, juniper, musk yarrow, and lavender.
Thanks, y’all. Sounds interesting, and tasty!
Word of caution: When making a sauce from roux, add the liquid slowly and carefully to start with, stirring continuously. The transition from fried flour to a smooth paste to sauce needs to be gentle otherwise you end up with hard lumps of flour in liquid rather than a thick rich sauce. Particularly difficult for larger quantities.
Strangely, pork chop gravy was one of the first things I learned to cook. That, I was taught by the eyeball or feel method. 🙂
I have done OK with roux when I’ve fixed them, but sauces, I tend to get too thick or too thin. Not much experience with even the foundational sauces. Something to work on!
Thanks for the note. I did it kind of reversed, sifted flour into the melted butter and had no lumping problem, and it seemed to work. I’ll try it the other way around, since the notion is, as I understand it, to cook the flour.
Well, it was a great sauce—took far less flour than I thought, only a couple of tablespoons, and after that I kept adding chicken stock and sour cream to keep it at the right consistency.
Then the chicken. It would have been great except this was the last packet of chicken and apparently my policy of rotating food in the fridge didn’t get to this one. It was bad. I tossed it, thought about ordering pizza, but the sauce was good, the oven was heated, so I rolled up cheese and jalapeno enchiladas and baked those with sauce. I think had I had the chicken, or pulled pork, or barbecue beef, it would have been really good.
Note to self: more chicken.
BBQ beef or pork there? Mmm, that sounds very good! — A little picante salsa might add to the enchiladas. A bit of cooked basil, maybe?
I was surprised to see Spinach Tamales at the store today. I didn’t get some this time, but think I’ll try some soon. I bought beef tamales. My local store has remodeled and I’m likely to have to buttonhole a clerk to find something soon, if I don’t locate whatever. — They’ve moved the fresh tortillas again since the remodel. I didn’t locate those this time, darn it.
Now I’m all hungry! When do we start sharing Christmas cookie recipes?????
Dunno, but my sister and I are going to bake a PNW salmon fillet. Want a savory cranberry chutney for it. Anybody got ideas for a recipe?
I was curious, so I googled and found:
(1) Crosse and Blackwell make prepared chutneys, including a Cranberry Chutney. I haven’t tried these, but it’s an option, either from your local grocery store or ordered online.
(2) This Cranberry Chutney favors shallots and red wine vinegar and so on, and looked as good or better than a similar recipe on Epicurious.
http://www.marthastewart.com/313155/cranberry-chutney
(3) The Smoky-Spicy-Savory Cranberry Sauce (or chutney) below uses a chipotle pepper or two (canned). The commenters suggested nice adjustments. With the adjustments particularly, this looked like a good compliment with salmon.
http://college.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2011/11/smoky-spicy-savory-cranberry-sauce.html
(4) The recipe below also looked good with salmon, and offers easy spices or other cooking touches. Note the adjustments suggested by commenters.
http://www.recipe.com/savory-cranberry-mustard-chutney/
I’d be very interested what you try. I have a couple of salmon filets in the freezer. This sounds like a good idea.
I think a comparison of the recipes could result in a new recipe of your own. I still need fresh cranberries, a couple of onions, some wine, and a check on a couple of the ingredients before I can compare and come up with something. So your results will be of interest.
Couple of things – you can add small diced onions (or shallots) when you melt the butter. Then let that cook 5 minutes (by a timer – 5 minutes is longer than you think). Then add flour to make a paste and cook that for 5 minutes. Then add your liquid and cook it down, stirring a lot. I have a real nice flat whisk that I learned from pioneer woman. I do that these days whenever I make a sauce. Note that if you add sour cream you have to be careful not to boil it or it will curd up.
And in my house, whenever we have a whole turkey or even chicken, after dinner we take EVERYTHING, ALL the leftovers, and throw it into a stock pot. The carcass, the stuffing, the giblets, the mashed potatoes, vegetables, even cranberry sauce if there isn’t much. Then throw in water and cook it up. You have to strain it but man, does it make good stock. We call it ‘garbage soup’ but I’m going to have to come up with a better name cause it is so good!
An idea that might help there, I don’t know how workable it would be in practice, but hey, the idea’s free to try. 🙂
Why not put the carcass in cheesecloth / similar and tie off to make a giant sachet (bag) ?
I’d think that would simplify most of the need to strain the results.
I’m trying to imagine how that would turn out, versus making up, say, packets in foil of turkey (or chicken), stuffing, potatoes, veggies, with containers for gravy and for cranberry sauce.
Does the result give something more like a stew, or more like a casserole? Curious.
Not a bad idea, about the cheesecloth. The soup turns out like a cloudy cloudy soup but still a soup. A little thicker (probably due to the gravy and potatoes). We generally will make it up, strain it, then add leftover turkey meat and serve it over noodles in a bowl. You never get quite the same taste every time – but it gives the flavor of the entire meal you had. I made it the first time out of laziness! Didn’t want a kaboodle of boxes in the fridge – that probably nobody would eat anyway.