Enchiladas Verde

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For today’s meal, we are going to make a heavily modified version of Enchiladas Verde. This is a lighter version, with an herb salsa verde instead of a tomatillo sauce. The sauce is purely vegetarian, and if you wanted to change the filling, it could easily be made into a vegetarian dish.

For the sauce, you can modify the herbs to make a wide variety of flavors. The one thing that may seem odd about the sauce is the addition of cucumbers; they add some body and bind the other flavors well. They are optional, but you will likely need more oil if you do not use them, so I highly recommend it.

When deciding on a filling, roasted peppers, corn, black beans, or fresh tomatoes would all taste great. If you want a creamier enchilada, you could use mozzarella cheese, but you will need to double the amount of cheese.

This dish will make about 6 small enchiladas, serving 2.

Sauce Ingredients:

5 slices cucumber (about 1-2 oz)

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch parsley

3-5 green onions

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

½ jalapeno pepper

1 tsp lime juice

¼ tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

Enchilada Ingredients:

1 lb pre-cooked chicken, shredded

5 oz spinach, washed

2 oz goat cheese

6 corn tortillas

Sauce Directions:

1)      Place the cucumbers in a blender first and then add all of the other sauce ingredients (It will blend much more easily if you put the cucumbers in first.)

2)      Puree while slowly adding the oil.

3)      Blend until very smooth.

Enchiladas Directions:

1)      Heat a sauté pan with a little oil and add the chicken. Sauté briefly.

2)      Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes.

3)      Add in the goat cheese and mix together to melt the cheese.

4)      Mix about 2-3 Tbsp of sauce into the chicken mixture.

5)      Heat the tortillas.

6)      Fill each tortilla with a few spoonfuls of chicken, and wrap tightly without breaking the tortillas.

7)      Top each enchilada with a little sauce.  Do not drown them in sauce like a traditional enchilada, as the sauce will be way to strong.