Red Chicken and Bean Enchiladas

served with Spanish Rice

I've tried many kinds of enchiladas in my life but my favorites are usually done in what I call the "Red" style.  Hot red chili sauce bathing filled corn tortillas and topped off with gooey cheese, shredded cabbage, sour cream, and a homemade guacamole.  Trader Joe's brand Enchilada sauce has quickly become a pantry staple. Making my own enchilada sauce is going to be a project for another day.

This is easy to make ahead and can please a crowd for dinner or keep you in lunches for a good part of the week. Since it is rather labor intensive, if you have extra casserole dishes, I'd recommend making up a double batch and freezing half.  While the texture suffers a bit on reheat it makes a good lunch.

Ingredients:
~Marinade: ~~~~~~~~~~
1 large chicken breast (pounded flat, cut into 1/4"-1/2" cubes)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon round black pepper
~~Fillings:~~~~~~~~~~
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow sweet onion (peeled, concasse)
2 cloves garlic (peeled, hacher)
1 orange bell pepper (seeded, des)
1 large jalapeno pepper (seeded, brunoisette)
1 cup tomato juice
1 (15oz) can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
4 ounces cheddar cheese (shredded, divided)
~~~Assemble:~~~~~~~~~~~
8-10 6-inch corn tortillas (thawed)
cooking oil
~~~~Garnish:~~~~~~~~~~~
cabbage (shredded)
sour cream (creamed)
guacamole (fresh is best)
finely chopped tomato (brunoisette)
green onions (sifflet)
black olives (rouelle)
~~~~~Yield Info:~~~~~~~~~~
Makes 8-10 enchiladas
Serving size 2 enchiladas

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Marinade: Dry off chicken chunks with paper towel and add to clean mixing bowl.  Combine salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, and black pepper.  Sprinkle salt mixture evenly over chicken.  Stir to combine well and evenly coat chicken with spice mixture.  Marinate refrigerated in zip-loc minimum 1 hour (best 4 to overnight)
3. Fillings: Heat a large skillet to med high.  Add 1/2 oil and heat to shimmy.  Add chicken and marinade juices, sear all sides, and cook to med rare.  Remove cooked chicken from pan, set aside and keep warm.  Add remaining olive oil to pan, heat to shimmy.  When hot add onions, saute in oil to coat, suer til golden, saute garlic, reduce til liquid is nearly gone.  Saute in bell peppers and jalapeno.  Add tomato juice and seared chicken to pan and deglaze suc and stirring to evenly cook chicken.  Reduce til liquids are nearly gone. Remove from heat.  Stir in beans and cool mixture before adding 2.5 ounces of shredded cheese.  Stir to mix evenly,
4. Prepare corn tortillas.  Heat small amount of cooking oil in a skillet to shimmy.  Add corn tortillas one at a time and cook briefly (count to 15 or 20 each side) to make them pliable.  Drain them on paper towels and keep warm.
5. Assemble enchiladas.  In the center of each tortilla smear in a circle one ounce of the enchilada sauce.  Add a small portion of the mixture (use a portion scoop to make them consistent).  Even out the mixture to a consistent height and roll up jelly-roll fashion.  Place in a casserole dish seam side down.  Repeat step 4 for each tortilla.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over rolls to cover all tortilla surfaces lightly with sauce.  Cover with foil.
6. Bake in oven at 350F for about 30min. or until things are bubbly.  Remove foil, add remaining cheese on top and return to oven for 10 more min. or until cheese is melted
7. Plate hot over a bed of shredded cabbage and garnish as desired.

Tips:

• Don't add frozen tortillas to hot oil - it can ignite!
• The filling makes a good topping for salads.