Salsa Verde Chicken, Pepper Jack cheese and Sour cream Enchiladas

Happy day before Friday! Today I am sharing one of my absolutely most favorite recipe of all time, Salsa Verde Pepper Jack cheese Enchiladas with Sour Cream. Perfect timing for Cinco de Mayo. A neighbor of mine, when we lived in California, showed me how to make authentic Salsa Verde. This is it, minus the onions. What I love about this salsa verde, isthe fresh flavors of the cilantro, the heat from the Serrano chilis, (which are spicier than  jalepenos), and the tanginess from tomatillos.

Sure you can cut time by using a jar of Salsa Verde, but the taste of the homemade salsa is amazing, it seems to be more cohesive, bringing all the elements of the enchiladas together. I've noticed with jar salsa, that it doesn't really soak into the enchiladas, just sits on top. I don't add any water to the salsa verde, I don't want my enchiladas, too soft and mushy, but you can add a Tbls. at a time, until the salsa is to the consistency you prefer. You can blend the cilantro in the salsa to make it greener. I added my chopped cilantro to the salsa (making it easier for my children who don't like the cilantro, to pick it out)!

These have been a great tradition in our family to make. My daughter Lindsay likes to get in their and help me shred the chicken, stack the enchiladas, add the filling, and if she doesn't eat all the cheese by the end, she loves to top the enchiladas with the shredded cheese. 

Here are the enchiladas I am preparing by rolling them. It is a little more time consuming, and I'll be honest, there is more filling used in the stacked version. If you are looking to stretch your filling and make more enchiladas, than rolling is the way to go.  This time I only used one Serrano chili in the Salsa Verde, and added Spicy Pepper Jack cheese. My husband likes his enchiladas a little spicier, so I sliced a fresh Serrano chili and garnished his plate extra special!

Salsa Verde Chicken Pepper Jack cheese and Sour cream Enchiladas

For the Salsa Verde:

1 1/2 pounds Tomatillos

1-3 Serrano chili peppers

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. salt (for water) + 1 tsp. salt (for salsa)

1 Tbls. canola oil

1 Tbls. roasted garlic or 3 garlic cloves

For the Enchiladas:

1 Rotisserie chicken, shred the 2 chicken breast

2 cups Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese

2 cups Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

3/4 cup sour cream

12-18 corn tortillas

Avocado, for garnish

cilantro, for garnish

Serrano chili, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Peel the tomatillos from their husks. In a saucepan, add the tomatillos, depending on how spicy you want your salsa verde, I only put 1 Serrano chili, but you can add as many as you want, and this time I used minced garlic, but you can add the garlic cloves to the pot. Add enough water to cover, add salt and boil. Just until the tomatillos turn a bright green color, and the tomatillo skin, starts to blister off. Don't over cook, or the tomatillos will become too mushy, and very pale in color.

3. In a blender, combine the tomatillos, chili,  minced garlic or whole garlic cloves, salt and oil together, and puree. If you prefer chunky do not puree until smooth. You could also add the cilantro to the blender, it will give it a deeper green color. I add it to the puree to give it texture. My salsa, may be a paler shade of green, but for some of my children who don't like cilantro, they can easily pick it out, that way!

4. To the bottom of my pan, I spread about 1/4 cup of the salsa, so the bottoms of the enchiladas, soak it up, instead of sticking to the bottom.

5. My nana taught me this trick, you can soften the tortillas, by frying them lightly in a sauté pan filled with canola oil, and cook on low heat for 5 seconds per side, transfer to a plate, and with paper towels, drain the grease off...

OR

You can make extra salsa, heat it up in a sauce pan, and dip each tortilla whole in the warmed salsa.

6. Combine the two cheeses.

7. I roll my tortillas, filling them with a little chicken, cheese and 1/2 Tbls. of sour cream each. Gentle roll them up, do not over fill. Leave seam side down.

OR

8. You can stack the tortillas, 6 for first layer, 6 for middle layer, and 6 for top layer.

9. Between layers, I use chicken, cheese and dollops of sour cream.

10. Cover enchiladas with remaining salsa verde, (should be about 1 cup), and remaining cheese ( should also be about 1-2 cups, depending on if you like a ton of cheese).

11. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, until warmed through and cheese is slightly browned and bubbly.

12. Garnish with avocado, more cilantro, and since I used only 1 Serrano chili, I garnished my husband with another fresh Serrano chili, since he likes his enchiladas on the spicy side.

They are Muy Delicioso!!

Have a great week! Until next time!

xo Christine

Taking this dish to these parties:

Full Plate Thursday
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