Chicken Enchiladas

Chuck's family visited us last night and we wanted to impress. When you want to impress, you DO NOT try a new recipe. Go with something tried and true. We made this chicken enchilada dish last summer and were amazed with its flavor. This calls for a lot of ingredients, but it's worth the effort (and will either feed a lot of people, or 2 people for a few days). If you don't have much time and need to cook for a group of people, this is a great option.  We cooked the filling for the enchilada the night before, and were able to put the meal together in 15 minutes yesterday.  As much as I love sipping a swirly margarita(s) at Lauriol Plaza , it is possible to cook and enjoy a great Mexican dish at home.

Tyler Florence's Chicken Enchiladas
Serves 12 large chicken enchiladas
Ingredients:

For the filling-

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breast
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of frozen corn, thawed
5 canned whole green chiles, seeded & minced
1 (28-oz) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon all purpose flour

Other ingredients -
12 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
1 cup shredded cheddar and montery jack cheeses

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coat a large saute pan with vegetable oil.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown chicken over medium heat, allowing 7 minutes per side (or until the center is no longer pink).  Before turning chicken over, sprinkle with cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder.
3.  Remove chicken to a platter and allow to cool.
4.  Saute chopped onion and garlic in the chicken drippings (the leftover oil in the pan) until tender.  Add corn and chiles.  Stir well to combine.
5.  Crush canned tomatoes with your hands and add to the pan.  Saute for 1 minute.
6.  Pull chicken apart (we used two forks to shred it).  Add the shredded chicken to the saute pan and combine with the vegetable mixture.  Dust the mixture with flour to set and stir.
7.  Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds.
8.  Coat the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan (with tall sides) with a ladle of enchilada sauce.
9.  Using a shallow bowl, coat tortillas in enchilada sauce.
10.  Spoon chicken and veggie mixture (the filling) into each tortilla.  Roll-up tortillas over the filling and place seam-side down in the pan.
11.  Top enchiladas with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.
12.  Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (or until the cheese is melted).

If you don't want to spend your entire night cooking or are planning to entertain company, you can prepare the filling one day in advance and store in tupperware.  However, filling the tortillas and baking should be done the day of eating.