LUCY BURDETTE: we love Mexican food in our household, though it’s not that easy to get in our small town in Connecticut. Luckily for my food critic character, Hayley Snow, there is a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in Key West where she gets a delicious meal just the right moment. (I’ve included a little snippet from the upcoming A DELICIOUS DECEPTION at the end of the recipe—to whet your whistle!)
Today’s recipe is based on one for beef enchiladas that I’ve made a number of times from Once Upon a Chef. In the past, I’ve made chicken enchiladas with a green sauce, but I couldn’t see why this amazing red sauce wouldn’t work just as well. And it did! Next time around, I would also add at least a cup of cooked beans – these could be black beans or kidney beans or whatever is available.
Ingredients.
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I had roasted a chicken a day or two earlier thinking of this dish)
One medium onion, red or white, your choice
Two cloves garlic, finally chopped
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin,
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
Eight large flour tortillas
2 to 3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
(Jenn Siegel at once upon a chef also adds a chopped jalapeño, but I found our chili pepper was spicy enough for our taste. Cook’s choice!)
Chop the onion and the garlic and sauté in olive oil until soft but not brown. And the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and flour and cook this all together for another minute or two. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce and chicken broth to make a sauce.
Add the chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Next put a cup or so of sauce in a greased 9 x 11 pan. Assemble the tortillas by spreading a tablespoon or two of the chicken mixture in the bottom of each tortilla, sprinkle with a thick coating of grated cheese and roll them up. Tuck them all into the pan. If any sauce remains, spread it over the top of the tortillas then sprinkle with more cheese.
Bake about 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese melted and beginning to brown.
Serve with a green salad or asparagus or something else in the Green family.
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A DELICIOUS DECEPTION will be here before we know it—hitting bookstores on July 14! In this installment, Hayley is quite pregnant, which makes everyone around her worry about her urge to find a missing girl…
“Wait,” said Darcy. She held up her hand. “Say it again. You went back up there on your own? Are you out of your mind?”
I sat back in my folding chair, crossing my arms over the bulge of the baby. “No, just a concerned citizen. Very concerned, since you yourself pulled me into this mess in the first place. You seem to be sidelined, so I thought I could do some light investigating on my own, talking with a couple of perfectly friendly women. I did not approach or contaminate the crime scene. A little girl is missing and I for one feel some urgency about finding her.”
Darcy slumped in her chair, silent for once. Rivulets of tears ran down Louise’s cheeks. I began to open the bags of food and extract our dinner.
“Mmm, this smells very good. I’ve never eaten here. This is from the little hole in the wall on Bertha Street?” I quirked my eyebrows. Darcy was not known as a foodie. “How in the world did you find this place?”
“The deputies often stop here mid-shift,” she said, dishing up a plate of chicken fajitas, rice, beans, and guacamole and pushing it towards me. “The salsa has tons of flavor but not too much heat.”
A DELICIOUS DECEPTION, coming July 14 at a bookstore near you!
USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.
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