I have been making these enchiladas for many years now. Even the pickiest eater has liked them. The whole things started off with me just learning to make a salsa verde. Then I figured out the best way to make alot of pork for filling a bunch of enchiladas and tweaked the recipe until it was what I was wanting.
I make these over a 3 day period when I am making a large batch of them. First I make the pork, then the sauce, then heat it all up, assemble and bake. You can certainly make it all at one time if you are not making a huge quantity.
This recipe makes 1 batch (9x13 pan) of enchiladas: (For more than 1 batch: For the sauce, just multiply times the number of batches you want to make. For the pork, you have to use your judgment on the quantity)
Tomatillo Sauce
2 -11oz cans whole tomatillos, drained
(or 1 lb of fresh tomatillos, shucked, rinsed, cooked drained)
2 –Serrano Chiles or 3 Jalapeno Chiles…depends on your taste.
Use more of either for more heat. Remove seeds to reduce the heat.
1 bunch of cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
1 lime
3-4 cloves of garlic or ½ to 1 clove of elephant garlic
(more if you like)
1 15 oz can of chicken broth/stock
Salt & pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (Spanish preferred)
Chop the garlic and fry it in a large deep skillet or pan over medium heat in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Do not brown it or over cook it…just want it to soften. Tear or cut the long stems from the cilantro. Rinse & drain it. Drain the tomatillos & put them into a blender/food processor with the chicken broth, cilantro, cumin , salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Blend until pretty smooth. You don’t want any big chunks of tomatillo, add a squeeze of lime at the end.
Turn up the heat on the skillet to high and pour in the blended tomatillo mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer (usually about 15 to 20 minutes..longer for bigger batches)
Salt and pepper to taste. It will seem a little tart but it all comes together with the entire dish.
Set aside for at least a few hours so the flavors can combine. Overnight in the fridge is best.
Shredded Pork
Large pork roast or loin (Pork Shoulder is good if you trim
most of the fat off I use the big pork loin as it makes a lot of filling)
1 large white onion – rough chopped
1 tablespoon chile powder
2 Jalapenos – rough chopped (remove the seeds for no heat)
2/3 Poblanos, rough chopped
As many cloves of garlic as you want….I use a 1-2 cloves
of elephant garlic. – rough chopped
Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper
¼ cup Chicken Base (buillion)
Tablespoon of cumin
3 tablespoons Spanish Paprika
1 large lime
1 15oz can Chicken Stock/Broth
Water
Cut the pork into large chunks.
In a large stock pot sauté the onions and jalapenos, poblanos and all spices/seasonings. Cook until tender.
Add the pork and stir around to mix the onions, peppers and spices with the meat. Add in chicken broth and enough water to cover the meat about 90%. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let it boil for awhile until you can see the water level starting to lower from evaporation. Reduce to medium and cook until all or almost all the water is gone.
The fat should all render out. If you see any big pieces of fat remaining then take it out.
Squeeze the lime into the meat about halfway through the cooking.
Shred the meat by hand and put it into a seperate dish. It should come apart easily. At this point you can toss in more sauted onions & peppers and mix into the shredded meat if you like.
Cover and set aside to rest. Overnight in fridge is best.
Assembly
22 Corn tortillas
Shredded Cheese (Cheddar/Jack mix or Chihuahua cheese is very good)
Non-stick spray
Prepared Tomatillo sauce (above)
Prepared Shredded Pork (above)
1 large sheet pan
Spray your pan with the non-stick spray.
Heat the pork in the oven until tips start to brown and heat the sauce on the stovetop. You want everything hot but not too hot to handle.
Put the tortillas in sealable plastic sandwich bags, about 10 or so in each. Heat each bag in microwave for 1 minute. Only heat them as you need them.
Spread some sauce on bottom of pan to coat it.
Place a tortilla in the pan on the sauce, flip it over to get a little sauce on both sides, fill it with pork and cheese, roll it up and place at end of the pan, seam side down. Use however much you like.
Repeat until the pan is full…put as many as you can fit. On a large sheet pan I usually get 22 enchiladas….2 rows of 11.
Cover with sauce but don’t drown them in it…but do it to whatever you like. I try to leave some tortilla exposed so they brown on the edges and add flavor.
Cover with cheese.
Bake at 350-400 until cheese is melted and edges of tortillas start to brown.
Serve right out of the oven with a drizzle of Mexican crema and a wedge of lime.
YUMMMY!!!
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