Great Summer Meals: Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas

Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas: chunks of chicken mixed in sour cream and shredded jack cheese, rolled into a tortilla and dipped in your choice of sauce: chili rojo o salsa verde. During the baking process the tortillas soak in the sauce and melted cheesy-goodness from the filling making a hearty, delicious meal. Serve with a fresh salad, sliced avocados, a dollop of sour cream on the side, or traditional beans and rice.

The popularity of enchiladas, burritos and tacos too, exploded after the late 1970s and early1980s when premade tortillas became available in grocery stores. Since that time, the kitchen circuit’s cooks have continued creating countless variations and recipes for fillings, all wrapped around a flour or corn tortilla. Here are a couple a recipes from the All Guild Cookbook, 1980 that are keepers.

If you don’t have canned enchilada sauce handy, I’ve included a red chili sauce that is quick and easy. Using chili powder is a short-cut over the traditional method of roasting and then grinding chilies into a powder.

Chicken and Sour Cream Enchiladas, 1980

• 4 cups cooked chicken, cut in chunks
• 1 pint sour cream
• 4 oz. canned, mild diced chilies
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped olives, optional
• 4 cups grated Monterey jack cheese (2 cups for the filling, 2 cups for baking)
• 1 (10 0z.) can mild enchilada sauce.
• 1 dozen flour or corn tortillas (Today, most tortillas come in packages of ten)

 

Mix chicken, sour cream, chilies, green onions, salt and olives with 2 cups of cheese. Heat sauce. Dip each tortilla in sauce and fill with chicken mixture. Roll and place seam side down in 13 x 9 baking pan. Pour remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Thank you Cindy for introducing me to Chicken-Sour Cream Enchiladas.

Chicken Enchiladas, 1980

• 3-4 cups cooked chicken
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (2 cups for chicken mixture, 1 cup for topping)
• 1 can, sliced black olives
• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 cups, chopped green onions
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 can green chili salsa
• 1 dozen flour tortilla

Combine chicken, salsa, olives and cheese. Set aside. Mix soup, sour cream and green onions and cook over moderate heat until hot. Dip tortillas in sauce and fill with chicken mixture. Roll. Place in 13” x 9” baking dish. Spoon extra sauce over enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Home Made Red Enchilada Sauce

• 6 tablespoons chili powder, or less.*
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 10 tablespoons flour
• 7 cups water
• 2 teaspoon salt

Make a thin roux of oil, flour, salt and water. Stir chili powder into small amount of roux to make a paste. Add to roux and cook for 5 minutes. Use a wire whisk to mix.

*Two to three tablespoons is more than enough heat for my crew. But it’s a matter of taste.

Hints from the Kitchen Circuit: Telephones Tricks, 1948

You can tell whether or not the phone has been ringing in your absence by placing a piece of thin paper and carbon paper between the clapper and the bell. If that important call came while you were out, the carbon marks on the paper will tell you so.

Don’t trust to memory-consult the directory for telephone numbers. In most cases, wrong guesses cost a nickel apiece or more.

Save on your long distance toll charges by making calls, “person-to-person.” If the party you wish to contact is not available, you will not be charged for the call-whereas you will be charged if the call is station-to-station. Not a few people used this trick to let others know if they’d reached their destination.

Preparing chicken, 1948

Make short work of pin feathers by plucking them from fowl with an ordinary strawberry huller or a large pair of tweezers.