Chicken Enchiladas - With Homemade Sauce

Start with the sauce - grab yourself a beer or a glass of wine for this!

Ingredients for Sauce only:
1 cubanelle pepper
1 long red hot pepper
4 Thai red chilis
4 dried chipotle chilis
3 roma tomatoes
2 onions (medium or one big and one small)
1/2 cup roasted red/yellow peppers in the jar
3 cups of water
3 cups of stock (I had beef stock so that is what I used today)
1 tsp liquid smoke
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp honey
4-5 TBSP canola oil

Directions:
1. Cut your cubanelle and long hot pepper into big pieces and remove stem and seeds.  Cut your onion into quarters and remove the skin and root.  Cut your tomatoes in half. Smash the garlic and remove the skin.
2. Using a large, heavy bottom pot, turn on heat to medium high and add just a tsp of oil. Add in your dried peppers. Turn them often and just "fry" them for about 1 minute.  You will see the peppers start to expand - they are done.
3. Remove the peppers from the pot and set aside.  Add a TBSP of oil to the pot and then add all of your fresh peppers, onion, tomato, garlic, and some salt and pepper. Heat is on medium to high here so you can get some color on your veggies. This will take about 5 minutes.
4. While that is happening, (with gloves on) cut into the dried chilis and take the seeds out and remove any stems.  If you cant get all of them, its ok, you will get them later.
5. To your pot add the stock, water, dried chilis, liquid smoke, oregano, pepper, and 1 tsp salt. Everything should be in now except for the honey and 2 TBSP canola oil.
6. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.
7.  Turn off heat. In 2 batches, put everything in a blender. Blend until smooth and transfer into a bowl.
8. Using a fine wire mesh strainer, slowly pour sauce through the strainer into another bowl.  Use a wooden spoon to gently push it through the strainer but dont press too hard. You don't want the pieces or skins going into your sauce.  Empty your strainer after each cup of sauce or so. When your sauce is strained, you will end up with about 1/2 cup of skin and pulp from the vegetables. This process will make your sauce really smooth and silky - don't skip it.
9. Now, heat your last 2 TBSP of canola oil in that same pot on the stove until high heat. Pour your sauce in the pot to "fry" it.  Be careful of splatters.
10. Stir and simmer sauce for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes taste for seasoning. Here is where I added the last tsp of salt and 2 tsp of honey.
11. Let sauce sit for 30 minutes to cool and for flavors to marry even more.  If you don't have time - move on to make your enchiladas!

Chicken Enchilada Filling Ingredients:
1 plain rotisserie chicken (bought from the store and shredded. save the bones to make a stock for soups. I will show you that later)
25 dashes of Goya Salsita Chipotle Sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup Goya hot Salsa Taquera
1 tsp sugar
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chipotle powder
1 tsp taco seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 TBSP canola oil

Directions:
1. Once the chicken is shredded add all the other ingredients to a large pot to heat up. Stir often over low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Reserve.

Other ingredients for enchiladas:
1 can of refried beans
12 soft flour tortillas
2 packages of mexican shredded cheese
optional: sour cream for garnish
optional: cilantro for garnish
optional: corn chips for garnish

Assembly directions:
1. Lay a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Warm your tortillas in the microwave so they are pliable and won't tear - just 15 seconds or so.
3. Spread a thin layer of beans in the center of the tortilla, then lay some shredded chicken mixture on followed by a sprinkle of cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the pan.
4. As you are rolling, make sure to place next to each other, touching. Top with a thin layer of sauce on the top of the enchiladas. I leave just a little tortilla showing at each end (because it will get a little crispy and yummy) and then put a row of cheese down the center of the enchiladas.
5. Bake in the oven until cheese is golden brown, bubbly, and enchiladas are heated through - about 25 minutes.
6. Serve with optional garnish of crushed corn chips, cilantro, and sour cream - and a nice cold beer!

Note: making 2 batches of the sauce in a large stock pot may be a great idea. You can freeze half of the sauce for quicker prep on the next meal!