Monthly Archives: July 2007

I basically took the idea of a burrito and an enchilada and combined them into this baked hybrid. The special touch is the homemade enchilada sauce or ranchero sauce (I’ve tried the canned stuff — it does NOT come close.)

Ranchero sauce is a tomato-based sauce with chilis (powder and whole peppers), onions, garlic, and cumin — and it’s absolutely delicious. One of my favorite Mexican restaurants (Tortilla Flat in Merrimack, NH) makes nachos that are simply toritilla chips, ranchero sauce, and cheese. Yum!

This recipe has lots of steps and takes a little bit of time, but is worth it (and I did make it after work one night — though we did eat at 8:00!)

You could make this vegetarian by substituting sauteed veggies (zucchini, summer squash, onions, mushrooms, etc.) for the chicken. You could also sneak more veggies into your diet by adding veggies to the chicken mix.

Burrito-chiladas
Serves 4

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped roughly
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red pepper, seeded and chopped roughly
1 red chile pepper (jalepeno or red fresno), seeded and chopped roughly
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1, 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1, 14 oz. can chicken stock (or veggie if you want to get vegetarian)
1 lb. chicken breast
1, 14 oz. can black beans, drained
1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese
4 large flour tortillas

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a shallow sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions, peppers, and garlic and sprinkle with salt. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture gets soft and the onions get translucent. Add the chili powder, cumin, and tomato paste. Stir together and cook for a minute. Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, uncovered. Taste and add more salt, if neccesary.

Use and immersion blender to blend the sauce until it’s smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use the blender or a food processer to blend the sauce, but be careful — it’s hot! Make sure you don’t cover the blender or food processor tightly so that steam can escape. Add back into the pan.

Add the chicken breasts, bring back up to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and tender.
Remove the chicken from the pan onto a cutting board. Bring the sauce back up to a boil and reduce by about 1/3. Remove 1/3 of the sauce and add it to the bottom of a lasanga-type baking dish. Put 1/3 of the sauce into a pie pan. Use two forks to shred the chicken and add the shredded chicken into the remaining 1/3 of the sauce.

Soak each side of each tortilla in the sauce in the pie pan until they are well coated. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 of the black beans, 1/4 of the shredded chicken, and a heaping handful of cheddar cheese (saving some for later.) Roll up into a burrito shape and add to the baking dish, seam down.

Cover the burrito-chiladas with the remaining sauce from the pie pan. Bake in the 400 degree oven covered with foil for 20 minutes. Uncover and top the burritos with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake for about 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream and guacamole.