Week 3: Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Salsa

Source: Adapted from Good Friends, Great Tastes: A Celebration of Life, Food, and Friendship by Debbie Meyer-Gore
*Special thanks to Dawn Gettman for this cookbook. The first meal from it was a hit- I can't wait to try some more!

One day, I'll learn my lesson and stop trying new recipes when company is coming over. I'm afraid I'll end up with a big, stinky flop of a meal, and then I'll be ordering pizza... but in this stage of my personal development, I think it's healthy to throw caution to the wind and risk the flop. If my company gets annoyed, they are free to refrain from coming over again. Besides, I like pizza anyway.

This, however, was NOT a flop. Not even close. I wanted to lick the bowl in self-congratulatory glee after I mixed up the filling. Making this a vegetarian option would be fairly easy, just replace the chicken with a ton of sliced fresh vegetables you've sauteed until just soft (i.e., red bell peppers, green bell peppers, zucchini, even eggplant... replace it with whatever you want. I don't believe you could go wrong here). Otherwise, this is not health food. It has enough fat in it to give my beautiful nutritionist cousin a heart attack by proxy. I made some substitutions to lighten it up a little bit, but be afraid, and be cautious. This stuff will kill you. It isn't everyday fare if you're trying to watch your girlish figures, but it's darn good and worth it for a splurge.

The pizza will just have to wait for another day.

3 8-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 ts Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning
1/2 ts lemon pepper
1 tb Smart Balance
1 small red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 (7oz) jar green salsa
1 (4.5oz) can chopped green chiles
2 c grated reduced fat Mexican blend cheese, divided use
2 c heavy cream
1/2 ts salt
12 corn tortillas
1 tomato, diced (1/4 inch pieces)
1 bunch green onion tops for garnish (dark green portions only)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle chicken breasts with Tony Chachere's and lemon pepper. Spray pan with nonstick spray and sear chicken over medium heat until browned. Shred chicken breasts and set aside. Melt Smart Balance in skillet and saute onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic just before the onion is fully sauteed. Combine the chicken, onion, garlic, green salsa, chiles, and 1 cup cheese in large bowl. Mix heavy cream and salt together in a separate small bowl and set aside. Dip each tortilla into the cream mixture, coating each side. Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture. Roll seam-side down and place in 9x13 baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Pour remaining cream over the rolled tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake enchiladas for 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish before serving with tomato and green onion tops.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Foodie Forks
Make it. It's awesome.

Week 2: Shrimp Tacos

Source: Adapted from
http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2009/07/shrimp-tacos-with-cilantro-lime-sour-cream-recipe.html

One of the things I miss about the Pacific Northwest is the fish tacos.

When I moved to Seattle, I saw fish tacos on a menu and immediately gagged. I'm not a picky eater in any way, but I didn't understand why someone would ever, EVER, ruin a taco by replacing the meat with fish. I like tacos, and I like fish, but I was absolutely certain that I would NOT like the two in combination.

I know this doesn't sound like the beginning of a girl-meets-nosh match made in heaven, but you've seen 10 Things I Hate About You, right? Kat didn't like Patrick much at first, either. He had to work his way in to her good graces. In this parallel food relationship, the tacos had to put forth some effort and grow on me a bit. Although the tacos blatantly refused to garner my favor by serenading me in front of a football stadium full of people, someone did convince me to try the nauseatingly Neptunian nibbles at Ivar's Salmon House's happy hour several years ago. After that point, I just couldn't quit them. Suddenly, I was chasing them through Gasworks Park with paintballs and composing sappy poems about their dumb combat boots and my inability to hate them. They're coastal, fresh, light, and versatile... in my mind, a perfect summer food.

Caveat: I don't like cooking fish. It's temperamental and picky about heat, and oil, and everything else. Every now and then I take it on, and I always enjoy the finished product, but in my everyday weeknight eating, I want something that requires less attention. So what about replacing the fish with frozen precooked shrimp? I felt like it was a brilliant idea. Then, this recipe is a great use for the cilantro-lime crema you made for the gazpacho, because you'll want to eat it on everything you make indefinitely after eating it once.

• 1 lb large frozen cooked and peeled shrimp (tails off)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• corn tortillas
• cooking spray
  
• diced tomatoes
• sliced avocado
• cilantro lime crema (From Week 1 Entry)

1. Thaw the shrimp by placing them in a colander and running warm water over them for about 10 minutes.
2. Whisk together olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper (if using). Add in shrimp and toss to coat completely. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to give the flavors a chance to marry. (HA! Really? I'm sure it would be better if you performed the flavor nuptials... but I was hungry. I just heated the darn shrimp in the mixture and called it a day.)
   
3. Cook shrimp in a skillet on medium heat heated through, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and cover to keep warm.
4. Coat small pan or griddle with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat. Cook tortillas one at a time until soft, about 30 seconds on each side.
   
5. Spoon shrimp into each tortilla. Top with tomato, avocado, and cilantro-lime sour cream.

The Fellowship Foodie's Review: Too much heat and too little richness of flavor in the shrimp, but overall, a good recipe that just needs some work to make it exactly right. In a future variation, I'll try a spicy fruit glaze like mango or pineapple for the shrimp. Stay tuned!

Rating: 3 out of 5 Foodie Forks