Cheese- and Sauce-Draped Enchiladas Suizas from 'America's Test Kitchen'

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Celebrate the return of new America's Test Kitchen episodes to WTTW (Saturdays at 2:30 pm) and via the PBS app with a recipe from the new season for cheese- and sauce-draped enchiladas suizas. America's Test Kitchen has new expert knowledge on regional Mexican dishes and salsas to draw on, as Chicago native Jonathan Zaragoza is now an editor in residence working on a cookbook that is due out a year from now. 

Of course, America's Test Kitchen recipes span the global gamut, just like American food, so make sure to watch to enjoy recipes ranging from a New England clambake to pasta with Sichuan peppercorn sauce. 

Enchiladas Suizas

Enchiladas Suizas is a traditional Mexico City dish that pairs chicken enchiladas with a creamy, tangy tomatillo- and chile-based sauce and melty cheese. Poaching strips of boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than whole breasts drastically reduced cooking time while still resulting in soft, juicy meat, which we seasoned gently with black pepper and Mexican oregano. We made the sauce by gently simmering tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serrano chiles and then mixing the cooked vegetables with cilantro for color and grassy freshness and Mexican crema for richness and balance. Frying the corn tortillas one at a time in a skillet both warmed them through and allowed them to absorb a touch of oil, making them more water resistant. After rolling the enchiladas, we cooked them in the skillet in which we fried the tortillas, saucing them lightly, topping them with cheese, and serving plenty of additional sauce at the table.

Ingredients

For the chicken:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut lengthwise into thirds
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

For the sauce:
3 serrano chiles, stemmed
1 white onion, peeled
1 pound tomatillos, husks and stems removed, rinsed well
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro sprigs
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup Mexican crema

For the enchiladas:
1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (1 cup)
Fresh cilantro leaves
Thinly sliced radishes
Crumbled cotija cheese (optional)

Directions

1. For the chicken: Bring 2 1/2 cups water, chicken, garlic, bay leaves, salt, and peppercorns to simmer in medium sauce pan over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain simmer and cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer chicken to bowl and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes (strain broth and reserve for other use). Shred chicken into 1/2-inch pieces.

2. For the sauce: Cut 1 serrano in half lengthwise and scrape out seeds. Transfer serrano halves to medium sauce pan along with remaining 2 whole serranos. Halve onion. Cut one 1/2-inch-thick slice from 1 onion half; add to saucepan with serranos. Finely chop remaining onion half and set aside for serving. Add tomatillos and garlic to saucepan. Add water to cover vegetables and bring to gentle simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to maintain very gentle simmer and cook until tomatillos are very tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Using slotted spoon, transfer onion, garlic, serranos, and one-quarter of tomatillos to blender. Add cilantro, sugar, and salt and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Add remaining tomatillos (discard cooking water) and crema and blend until smooth, 45 to 60 seconds.

4. For the enchiladas: Line rimmed baking sheet with double layer of paper towels. Heat oil in 10-inch ovensafe skillet over medium heat to 325 degrees. Using tongs, place 1 tortilla in skillet and fry for 5 seconds. Flip tortilla and continue to cook until it is puffed in spots but not browned, 4 to 6 seconds longer. Transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Place double layer of paper towels over 
tortillas and press to absorb excess oil. Discard oil and wipe out skillet.

5. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to  425 degrees. Add oregano to chicken and toss to combine. Season with pepper to taste. Spread 1/4 cup sauce across bottom of now-empty skillet.

6. Place 1/4 cup chicken over lower third of 1 tortilla. Roll tortilla tightly around filling and place seam side down in skillet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. (Arrange 6 enchiladas down center of skillet and one on each side). Spread 1/3 cup sauce evenly over enchiladas. Sprinkle Monterey Jack evenly over sauce. Bake until cheese is melted and filling is heated through (internal temperature should be between 135 and 140 degrees), about 12 minutes.

7. While enchiladas bake, transfer remaining sauce to saucepan and bring to gentle simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Divide sauce evenly among 4 shallow bowls. Arrange 2 enchiladas in each bowl, over sauce. Garnish enchiladas with cilantro, radish, cotija, and reserved chopped onion. Serve immediately.

8. To make ahead: Chicken can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Tortillas can be kept covered at room temperature for up to 3 hours. Assembled enchiladas and remaining sauce can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Bake enchiladas in 400-degree oven until heated through, 15 to 18 minutes.