Enchilada Verde

This past week, I attended a Christian Bible camp at Mount Shasta hosted by Camp Farthest Out.  Each evening a potluck was held in the large pavilion.  I prepared three green chili enchilada casseroles ahead of time to reheat as my contribution to the potluck and it was a big hit with young and seasoned campers alike.    Several campers asked me how I made the casserole, so I’ve written notes here on how I made it.

• Shredded Chicken meat
• Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• Diced onions (typically yellow or white)
• 1 pint of Sour Cream
• 1 - 2 packages of Corn tortillas
• 1 - 2 large cans of Green Enchilada Sauce

For shredded chicken, you can grab a roast chicken from your favorite grocery store remove the meat and shred it or boil a whole chicken and remove the meat from it once it’s cooled sufficiently.  I used a package of the Costco roast chicken that they’d removed from their roast chickens and vacuum sealed.

Next, I prepare the filling by combining diced onions, sour cream, cheese and chicken in a bowl.  Because I knew kids would be eating this dish, I sautéed the onions beforehand ad let them cool.  Usually, I simply use raw onions.  I bought two large packages of shredded cheese and had too much. 

Usually, I stuff corn tortillas with filling and roll them. This time time, I layered the corn tortillas and filling preparing the dish as a casserole using the corn tortillas as if they were lasagne noodles. 

In the case of rolling the tortillas, I pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the tortillas and sprinkle some extra cheese on top.  I used mild enchilada sauce for camp in the hopes the kids would be more willing to eat it. When I made this for camp, I had too much cheese left and simply loaded up each casserole dish with extra cheese; no one complained.   In the case of the casserole preparation, I poured a little enchilada sauce on the bottom and over each layer of the tortillas.

I baked the casserole dish at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the sauce began to boil.  

When I reheated the casserole dish, I also set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and waited for the tortilla sauce to begin boiling.