I strongly dislike corn tortillas that haven’t been fried into chips. The flavor, the texture, the total pain-in-the-assness when it comes to cracking and rolling and splitting. But flour tortillas? LOVE.

I am firmly in the “ain’t no enchilada tortilla like a flour tortilla” camp. I might also run the Down With Corn Tortillas SuperPac. But the rules are so lax with those things that I don’t technically have to tell you. Or even myself, really.

The exposed ends of the tortillas get crispy and the rest of the tortilla absorbs the enchilada sauce. The absorption factor here is key to what I consider the very best thing about the borderline pain-in-the-assness of making enchiladas: leftovers. And not just any leftovers – leftovers that get better over the next two days and make eating the same thing for lunch and dinner for 3 days NOT a chore.

Take all that for what it’s worth. I’m also a big fan of day-old leftover nachos.

The smokey, tangy sauce gets its flavors – and a little heat – from roasted hatch chiles, tomatillos, and yogurt (I like to use Greek yogurt simply for the extra protein). And if you skimp on the sauce when making the enchiladas, you have a pretty fabulously creamy green sauce for dipping.

1 hour looks a little time-consuming for a weeknight – and maybe it is – but with leftover chicken and preshred cheese, you’re really looking at 40 minutes of oven time – 20 to roast the tomatillos and garlic, 20 to bake the enchiladas. The sauce takes 2 minutes with a blender or food processor and will beat any bottled green sauce you can get premade.

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Roasted Hatch Chile & Chicken Enchiladas

Roasted hatch chiles, tomatillos, and yogurt are the stars in this creamy green enchilada sauce.

Ingredients

• For the enchilada sauce:
• ~1.25 lbs tomatillos
• 3/4 lb hatch chiles, roasted, seeded, and chopped (directions here)
• 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt (I use 0% Fage)
• To assemble:
• 12 tortillas (I prefer flour)
• 8 oz monterrey jack, shredded
• ~3/4 lb leftover shredded chicken

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and very lighly spray with oil.
3. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse off the stickiness.
4. Cut tomatillos in half (doesn't matter, but I do a verdical cut down the core) and place cut-side down on the foil along with the unpeeled garlic cloves.
5. Roast for ~20 minutes and remove from oven, leaving the oven on.
6. Set the garlic cloves aside and transfer the tomatillos to a food processor or blender - use a rubber spatula and the moisture from the softened tomatillos to get any browned bits into the blender.
7. Peel the garlic cloves when cool enough to handle and add to the blender along with hatch chiles, lime juice, yogurt, salt, and pepper.
8. Blend until completely smooth.
9. To assemble the enchiladas, place 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into the pan and shake/spread it to completely cover the bottom.
10. Top each tortilla with a generous pinch of shredded chicken and shredded cheese.
11. Roll and place seam-down in the pan.
12. Pour enchilada sauce over top and then sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
13. Bake ~20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and browning.
14. Leftovers get even better the next 2 days.

Notes

Yields: 6 servings

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 1 hour