Enchilada Divorciadas
What You Need
Ingredients
Preparation
Enchiladas divorciadas (divorced enchiladas) may sound like a dish of conflict; however, here, the red and green sauces make peace and come together for a medley of flavors that will please your palate and appease any divisive opinion on which salsa is better. The chicken-and-cheese stuffed enchiladas are coated in a tangy tomatillo green sauce and a dried chile-based red sauce. Poaching chicken for the filling yields tender meat and a quick homemade chicken broth, but you can use about 3 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken and store-bought low-sodium chicken broth instead as a shortcut.
COOK THE CHICKEN
- Bring 6 cups of water, the chicken, a third of the diced onion, 3 of the garlic cloves, oregano and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a HexClad 3QT Hybrid Saucepan over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer until the chicken is fully cooked, 15 to 20 minutes, skimming off any foam with a large spoon. Remove the pot from the heat and cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred. Strain the broth to use in the sauces, you will have about 3 cups shredded chicken.
MAKE THE RED SAUCE
- Remove the stems and seeds from the California and guajillo chiles. Toast in a HexClad 12" Hybrid Fry Pan over medium heat until slightly darkened and aromatic but not blackened, about 1 minute. Remove to the carafe of a blender.
- Return the pan to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Add the tomato, another third of the diced onion and 2 of the garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is softened, the tomatoes are lightly browned and the skins are splitting, about 5 minutes.
- Scrape everything into the blender with the chiles. Add 2 cups of the reserved broth. Cover the blender and let stand for 5 minutes to soften the chiles. Blend until very smooth. Strain into a bowl or large measuring cup.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a HexClad 12" Hybrid Fry Pan over medium heat. Carefully pour the sauce into the hot pan and simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened slightly, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and let cool slightly. You will have about 2 ½ cups sauce.
MAKE THE GREEN SAUCE
- Set an oven to broil on high with a rack in the upper third. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and add the tomatillos, poblanos, serrano chile, remaining third of the onion and remaining 2 cloves of garlic. Broil, turning the pepper and tomatillos occasionally, until charred and softened, 12 to 14 minutes.
- Cool and then transfer to the carafe of a blender. Stem peel and seed the serrano and poblano. Transfer both to the blender carafe. Add 1 ¼ cup of the reserved broth and blend until smooth.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil in a HexClad 12" Hybrid Fry Pan over medium heat. Carefully pour the sauce into the hot pan and simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened slightly, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and let cool slightly. You will have about 2 1/2 cups sauce.
ASSEMBLE AND BAKE THE ENCHILADAS
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Create an assembly line on your stovetop that includes a HexClad 8" Hybrid Fry Pan, the shredded chicken, shredded cheese, the red and green sauces, and a HexClad Small Hybrid Roasting Pan (without the rack). Lightly grease the roasting pan with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil Starting from 1 short end of the pan, spread a vertical line of green sauce, about ⅓ cup, then ⅓ cup red sauce next to it. Repeat so that you have 4 stripes of sauce, 2 of each color.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a HexClad 8" Hybrid Fry Pan over medium heat. Working with one tortilla at a time, lightly fry a tortilla until puffled, but still pliable, about about 10 seconds per side. Remove to a cutting board, letting the excess oil drip off. While still warm, top the tortilla with about 2 heaping tablespoons each of chicken and cheese and roll up. Arrange seam-side down in the baking dish, making two rows of 8 enchiladas and laying each one so it’s half on green sauce and half on red sauce. Repeat frying, filling and rolling up the remaining tortillas, adding more vegetable oil to the pan as needed.
- Copying the color pattern on the bottom of the roasting pan, top the rolled enchiladas with alternating stripes of green sauce and red sauce (two of each), making sure the tortillas are fully covered, ⅓ to ½ cup per stripe. Bake until the edges of the enchiladas are bubbling and hot through, about 20 minutes.
- Top with crumbled queso fresco on the line between the red and green sauces on each row of enchiladas and then add some sliced onion and cilantro. To serve, spread some of the remaining red and green sauce on a plate and top with the enchiladas.