Enchiladas Verdes ("Green Enchiladas")

Note from Marie: My grandmother, Maria Garza, is from Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She taught my mother, who then taught me, about authentic Mexican cooking. These enchiladas verdes (“green enchiladas”) are made the way my grandmother used to make them—by dipping the tortilla, first, in the chilie sauce and, second, in hot oil—and then filling the tortilla with chicken, cheese, or hard-boiled egg. When you make them this way, the name “en chile”-adas makes sense.

Serves 4 (three enchiladas each).

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped into bite-size pieces

10 tomatillos, peeled, washed, and dried

1 jalapeno (whole), washed and dried

Kosher salt to taste

1 cup queso fresco , crumbled

Extra virgin olive oil

For garnish (all optional): Sour cream; cilantro (roughly chopped); lime wedges; cherry tomatoes (quartered); iceberg lettuce (finely shredded)

Instructions:

In large pot, cook tomatillos and whole jalapeno over medium to medium high heat for about 15 minutes or until tomatillos are very soft and light yellow.

Place tomatillos and jalapeno into a food processor or blender. (Remove seeds and veins from jalapeno if you want less heat.) Add 2-3 teaspoons Kosher salt. Blend until liquefied. Taste, and adjust salt.

Pour sauce into saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat (stirring frequently) until the sauce starts to bubble. Then turn off fire.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons oil in separate small saucepan over medium heat. When oil is hot, dip one tortilla into the sauce (covering both sides) and then place into saucepan of oil. (Be careful: The hot oil will pop out of the pan!) Let the tortilla cook for about 30 seconds. Using a spatula or tongs, turn the tortilla, and let it cook again on the other side for about 30 seconds.

Remove the tortilla from the oil and place on a plate. (The tortilla should be soft.) Place shredded chicken or chopped egg in the center. Roll tortilla so that the ends are folded under and touching the plate. Repeat until you have made 12 enchiladas. Sprinkle with queso fresco and any other desired garnish. Serve immediately.