I spent my evening making my (in)famous Turkey & Green Chile Enchiladas.
My college housemate for my Senior year was a cool guy named Mike “Zippy” Pettit. Zip hailed from Roswell, New Mexico (yes, THAT Roswell) and the finest gift he ever gave me was a deep appreciation of the unique cuisine of the Southwest. Green Chile Enchiladas were his thing. His father taught him to make them from scratch, and I picked up the skills to make them as I assisted the process in our modest off-campus house in 1984/85.
Not long after graduation I came up with the weird idea of mixing leftover turkey into the mix, and since 1985 I’ve made batches of Turkey & Green Chile Enchiladas after every holiday. I have a strong suspicion that Sue married me solely for annual access to this delicacy. Sue is, to put it mildly, a horrible cook… She is a fine Attorney but pretty much useless in the kitchen. She can however roast a good bird (something that I’ve never bothered to learn, as she’s always done it.) This year we drove to Central Oregon to visit her family. Such is her love for T&GC-E that she bought a thawed turkey this past Sunday (Scottish Thanksgiving, 50% Off!) after we came back from Oregon, and cooked it Sunday night – JUST so I would make my Enchiladas. I spent yesterday at work, and then taking Christopher down to Olympia to resume classes (he has no class on Monday’s though.) So the T&GC-E-making task waited until tonight.
Here is how to make them. BUT: Please be aware that I am a freestyle cook. I don’t measure anything, ever. If you have to have precise measures to create dinners I’ll be of no help. Instead I cook by process, and intuition. Like a musician who plays by ear rather than reading sheet music I throw things together by feel; even when I’m making something new. I read recipes as procedural suggestion rather than canon, noting the ingredients, and their order of mingling – but rarely if ever their measure. So take this as a “guide” more than a “recipe.”
Buy some mild green chiles. Anchos, Long Greens, Anaheim, Chilacas, Big Jims, Poblanas, New Mexico Greens, etc. If you can’t find them, or don’t want to go through the labor of prepping them you can substitute canned chiles, but trust me, fresh is best as the majority of the flavor comes from the chiles. Tonight I started with half a dozen Poblano, or maybe they were Chilacas (Sue bought them, not me!) I prefer Big Jims or NMs, but any Green Chile will do.
Preparing the Chiles: Place them on a broiling pan and put them in the oven on the top rack, under the broiler. Keep an eye on them. Their skins will blister, and expand off the flesh of the chile. Keep rotating them to put the unfinished parts toward the broiler. If the skin blackens, or cracks, it is OK, just don’t let them get overdone. The goal is to make the skin easy to peel off, not cook the chile itself. I light a candle when I first put them under the broiler to finish the job. Once you’ve rotated all the chiles and they are as uniformly blistered as they can be in the broiler, pull them out, and using some BBQ tongs and the candle hold the few remaining pockets of un-blistered skin over the flame long enough to pop them off. Place the chiles on a plate and toss them in the freezer for about 5 minutes. This rapid cooling further pops the skin off the flesh and makes them easier to handle and peel. Pull them from the freezer and peel the skins completely off the flesh. Throw away the skins. With a sharp knife, slice the chiles longways and flatten them out by cutting the “crown” of them off around the stem. Remove all the seeds and veins. I do the latter by lightly scraping lengthwise with the blade held perpendicular to the inside flesh of the chile. Discard the seeds and veins. Pile up your chiles on a plate.
Get out your turkey leftovers. All those bits of dark-meat shrapnel make the best enchiladas as they are impossible to put in a sandwich anyway. Toss them into a food processor along with your chiles. I tend to make it a 60/40 mix of Turkey to Green Chiles. You want the mixture to be granular, but not liquified, so just a few laps around with the “pulse” button will do. Once the big turkey chunks have been cut up and the blade is spinning free, stop the processor and dump the mix into a LARGE bowl. My food processor is small, so it takes me quite a while to work through a big batch of leftovers. Tonight I farmed the task to Nicholas as I started preparing tortillas…
Enchiladas must be made with CORN tortillas. Flour tortillas roll without prep, but making enchiladas with flour tortillas just is not cricket. It is like serving a hamburger on a hot dog bun, or playing ice hockey with a basketball instead of a puck. I buy tortillas at the store, as I’ve never mastered making them myself, so this recipe can’t really be called “scratch”. If you can make your own, my hat is off to you!
To prep your corn tortillas they have to be softened so they’ll roll well. The traditional New Mexico style is to dip them in enchilada sauce. This is best if you are making enchiladas to eat right now, but as this recipe is for making huge batches for freezing, I have found that a light dip in hot oil is best. The tortillas will stay fresh for months in the freezer this way. The sauce dip method will cause the tortillas to disintegrate as they thaw.
Heat some canola or corn oil in a skillet on medium-high. Take your tongs and lower one tortilla at a time into the oil once it is hot. Lightly fry them, about 5-10 seconds per side. DO NOT let them stay in the oil too long. They turn into tostadas very quickly beyond that 10 seconds, or if your oil is too hot. Bubbling is good, burning is not. The idea is to make the tortilla soft and pliable, not make a frisbee. I inevitably make a few stiff ones as I go along, usually if I’m distracted. Once any portion of a tortilla hardens it is useless for enchiladas, so I just cook them all the way and make tasty snacks. 😉 Pile your softly completed tortillas on a plate for later use.
Next soften some cream cheese in a small bowl. I do this in the microwave. You want it like the tortillas: soft and pliable, but not in nuclear meltdown mode. Once soft, start working it into the Turkey & Green Chile mixture along with a bit of Chile Powder, Black Pepper, Ground Cumin, and Salt. Again, tonight I farmed this task off to Nick. He worked the cheese into the mix after I sprinkled the spices in, and I went back to prepping tortillas. You can also mix in a bit of grated Pepper Jack Cheese, Cheddar, etc. (Tonight I did both as we had leftovers from a recent taco night)
Putting it all together!
After the tortillas have cooled enough to handle, gather your mix, the tortillas, and whatever container you’ll freeze the completed enchiladas into (I wrap them in foil in batches of 6 or 8), along with a wooden cutting board. One at a time place a tortilla on the board and scoop about a tablespoon of the T&GE/Cheese/spices mix onto the tortilla and roll it into a tight tube about 1″—1.5″ in diameter. You don’t want big fat blobs, or too skinny a tube, nor do you want the mix forced out the ends. (see photos for one in-process and several completed ones.)
As I said, I make batches of 6—8 enchiladas and freeze them. You can pull them out of the freezer and cook them anytime.
To cook:
Remove from freezer and unwrap. Throw them in a baking dish, cover with favorite enchilada sauce (green is best) and grated cheese of your choice. Bake in 350°F oven for 20-30 minutes. Serve.
In this photo you can also see a mixed drink that I think I invented tonight. It is mostly iced tea, with a shot of bourbon and a half-shot of triple sec. It’s pretty good. I’m not a trained bartender, but I like this one. Let me know if it already exists, and if not, feel free to suggest a name for it!
