Creamy Poblano Smoked Chicken Enchiladas
At a reunion weekend back in March, each family was assigned a meal and mine got the final breakfast. We only had a microwave and electric skillet for cooking and folks would be antsy to get on the road, so we needed something quick and easy to prepare and settled on a breakfast taco bar and picked up all the ingredients at the HEB near the campground. We pulled the obvious meat choices of carnitas and barbacoa off the shelf and then at the last minute decided to give a new one to us a try—chicken in a poblano cream sauce. That ended up being the surprise favorite of mine and I immediately started to craft a recipe in my head along those line, then a couple months later these creamy poblano smoked chicken enchiladas were in my life.
My normal chicken enchilada process calls for poaching a couple breasts, then chilling and pulling them, and that's probably what I would have done here too if I didn't have the smoker going already for a brisket point. I was also cooking for a crowd, so instead of using just breasts, I picked up a whole split bird which added the tastier dark meat into the mix. I wrote the recipe to use breast meat alone, but you could certainly use half a chicken, or all thighs even, depending on your preference.
I did the chicken almost as plain as could be—I salted the halves the night before and let them brine in the fridge overnight, then tossed them on the smoker as-is the next morning. I let them cook until the meat hit between 145-155°F in the breast, knowing a little under cooking isn't horrible here because the meat will cook a second time once assembled into enchiladas and placed in the oven.
To maximize flavor, I opted to grill the poblanos, garlic, and onions that would go into the sauce. The time over the coals won't make or break this dish, but a little boost of smokiness and a bit of grilled char adds an extra depth of flavor. The poblanos were grilled, with occasional turning, until completely charred all over. As each was done, I transferred them into a large covered bowl, where they steamed until completely tender and cooled. At that point, the charred skins were removed and each pepper was stemmed and seeded.
I skewered whole, unpeeled garlic cloves to make them easily grillable. These sat over the flames until the skins were charred in spots and the cloves inside felt soft when I applied some pressure to them. I also skewered the onions so they would stay intact on the grill, and those were cooked until well charred on the exposed faces and the rings felt crisp-tender.
Once all of those were done, they went into the blender, along with a bit of chicken stock and cilantro, and got pureed until completely smooth. This was all pretty standard for me from the enchiladas verdes I usually make, but now I had to figure out how to make the sauce "creamy."
I used what felt like the best answer and started by making a roux with butter and flour. I then whisked in half-and-half around a half a cup at a time until the mixture was easily whisk-able, but still pretty thick.
I did this knowing the poblano mixture would thin it out further, and it did, resulting in an appropriately thick and creamy sauce. I gave it a taste and once I added some salt, it was hitting well. It only needed a bit of sugar to balance out a little bitterness from the grilled poblanos for it to feel on the nose in my mind.
With the sauce done, I assembled the filling next by first pulling the chicken and discarding the bones. The shredded chicken all went into a large bowl, to which I added grated pepper jack and cilantro, and then tossed to distribute everything evenly.
After lining a 9x13-inch pan with some sauce, I warmed 14 tortillas, filled each with some of the chicken mixture, rolled closed, and placed them all in the pan, seam side down. The rest of the sauce then got poured over the rolled tortillas, which I spread out evenly with a spoon before adding on a final layer of cheese and transferring the entire tray to a 350°F oven to bake until melted and bubbling around the edges.
It's not traditional, but I like to turn the broiler on at the end to brown the cheese a bit—I really like the enhanced flavor this brings, plus I think it just looks more appetizing. Before serving, I garnished the enchiladas with some more cilantro and radish slices, this too a personal preference for good looks. Whether garnished or not though, these enchiladas are sure to taste delicious. Mine came out with the creamy poblano sauce taking center stage with a great mixture of fruitiness, sweetness, and creaminess with an herbal touch. It was a lot of flavor, but not overwhelmingly so, and that allowed some of the light smokiness of the chicken to come through which made these extra special, but I wouldn't say was the crucial element of success. These were definitely a good step up from the off-the-shelf, microwaved poblano cream chicken that inspired the enchiladas, but the fact that the impetus behind this recipe was so good already says a lot about the greatness of a poblano cream sauce alone.
