Tyler Florence's Ultimate Chicken Enchiladas

Ok, sorry for the lag in updates, but I have a great recipe for you! I tried out Tyler Florence's Ultimate Chicken Enchiladas. Last week it was my sous chef's birthday week, and I had a full menu set out for him for the week. Thursday was this delicious Enchilada recipe! The recipe is linked above, but I will provide it here as well. Read below for some differences that I did with our enchiladas in comparison to the recipe.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
16 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
1 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheeses
Garnish: chopped cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Directions
Coat large saute pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.

Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add canned tomatoes, saute 1 minute.
Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to saute pan, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.

Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. Serve with Spanish rice and beans.

Delicious looking, right?! Ok, so here are all the things I did that I thought made this dish different, unique, or delicious :)

• Chicken-I changed how this chicken was cooked. I just didn't think the chicken would soak up all of these delicious spices in just 5 to 7 minutes in the pan. I had the time, so I put the chicken in a crockpot with the vegetable oil, cumin powder, garlic powder and Mexican spice blend. I let the chicken cook, removed it to a cutting board to shred, placed it back into the crockpot with remaining spices and juices to let it cook just a tad more to soak up those spices.
• Mexican Spice Blend- I went to the spice and international aisle twice in our grocery store and was not able to find this, so I made my own! Wow, it smells amazing!!! I mixed together the following spices: 1 1/2 tsp Chili powder, 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper, 3/4 ts Cumin, 1 1/2 tsp Oregano leaves, 3/4 tsp Onion powder, 1/4 tsp ground Coriander, 1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes, 1 1/2 tsp Garlic powder, 1 1/2 tsp Black pepper. Source.
• I used organic stewed tomatoes.
• Enchilada Sauce- While the end result tasted great, I did not intentionally use green chile enchilada sauce. I apparently wasn't paying attention when I picked up the can of enchilada sauce and purchased green chile sauce. Preferably, I'd use red enchilada sauce next time.
• Sides- Clearly we didn't eat rice and beans with this recipe because the enchiladas were filling enough! :) We halved the recipe anyways.

Try this one out and let me know what you think! :)