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For this dish, you'll be roasting three to four medium-sized poblano peppers.
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As always, the fresher the ingredients the better.
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Roasting gives your poblanos and tomatillos a deep sweet flavor and cuts the spiciness of the peppers.
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The final product is hearty, flavorful and photogenic.
There’s something so gratifying about cooking with vegetables you’ve grown. Being part of the entire process, from seed to dish, brings much joy to the dinner table.
This year we’ve had a remarkable season with the extreme hot weather bringing my family the best pepper harvest in a long time. Poblanos are especially abundant.
A Few Steps
After deciding to make rustic chicken poblano enchiladas with sweetened caramelized onions and a roasted tomatillo salsa verde, I went out to the garden with my son and picked ripe tomatillos and tomatoes of all colors, shapes and sizes.
Enchiladas are easy to make but do require a few steps. For this recipe I roasted the poblano peppers (for filling) and the tomatillos (for sauce), which gives these vegetables a deep sweet flavor and cuts the spiciness of the peppers.
Really, you could stop at the filling, warm up some flour tortillas, and have melt-in-your-mouth chicken poblano fajitas ready to go. To turn my fajitas into enchiladas, though, I wrapped the filling in corn tortillas and whipped up a quick salsa verde.
Either way, whether you choose chicken poblano fajitas or enchiladas, this meal is sure to please.
Chicken Poblano Enchiladas (Or Fajitas)
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, sliced thinly
- 3 - 4 medium-sized poblano peppers, roasted
- 14 -16 tomatillos, cut in half
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 vidalia sweet onion
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Cooking Directions
- Roast the poblano peppers and tomatillos on a baking dish at 425F for 15 minutes, turning them halfway through.
- Once done, place the poblano peppers in a brown paper bag or covered with a damp cloth in a dish until cooled. Remove the skins, seeds, and veins of the peppers and slice thinly.
- In a cast iron skillet or pan, heat the extra virgin olive oil and add the onions. Allow to blacken on the bottoms for about 4-5 minutes to blacken on the bottom. Turn the onions and allow to brown and caramelize for another 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken and brown until cooked through allowing all the juices to cook through.
- Add the sliced roasted poblano peppers, garlic powder, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Mix through and allow the flavors to incorporate for a few more minutes.
- Eat as fajitas or set aside to use as the filling for enchiladas.
- Meanwhile, blend the roasted tomatillos in a food processor or blender.
- In a saucepan, add the processed tomatillos, 1 cup chicken stock, 1 garlic clove, and 1 tsp kosher salt.
- Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- To Finish the Enchiladas, warm up the corn tortillas and add about a tablespoon or so of the chicken poblano filling to each placing them in a baking dish.
- Top with the roasted tomatillo salsa verde and shredded cheddar cheese.
- Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.
