Cookbook Chronicles: Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Cookbook Chronicles is an on-going series at The Bookery. Over the course of the next year, we'll delve into Joanna Gaines' first cookbook, Magnolia Table, trying one recipe per month.

The recipe: Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

The cookbook: Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines, page 193

The details: This recipe is much quicker than I thought it would be. Since you're using prepared sauces and already cooked chicken, your prep time is simple and quick. If you can stir (or whisk at most), you've got this one in the bag!

I was able to prep it and get it in the oven in 15 minutes on a day when I was working at home rather than in the office. Usually, work-from-home days involve quick lunches of leftovers or sandwiches, so creamy, warm enchiladas were a special treat!

The steps are straightforward and simple. I will say that when I whisked together the enchilada sauce, cream of chicken soup and sour cream, the sauce was thicker (and paler) than I had imagined.

The adjustments: Of course, when I'm cooking, there's always adjustments. A destructive storm blew through my neighborhood over the weekend, leaving many of us without power for more than 18 hours. Which meant the sour cream and other refrigerated ingredients I had purchased specifically for this recipe got tossed into the trash before I'd even opened them. When I went to a nearby grocery store in the days following the outage, they'd had to throw out most of their meat (including rotisserie chicken) and all of their dairy products.

• Rather than rotisserie chicken, I used Trader Joe's Simply Roast Chicken. It's sliced and ready to eat, but not as easy to shred as a rotisserie chicken would be. I had to chop some of the hearty slices of roasted chicken to make them better sized for the recipe.
  

• I am lazy when it comes to making enchiladas. Filling and rolling each one fills me with an existential dread that I can't explain or understand. So when I make enchiladas, I usually take the easy way out and make an enchilada bake, layering tortillas, chicken/chiles, sauce and cheese. I followed the recipe and started with a generous 1/2 cup of sauce mixture on the bottom of the casserole dish. I then layered on flour tortillas, topped with chicken/chiles and cheese and a bit of sauce before repeating the process. I usually aim for three layers, stopping with a top layer of tortillas. I topped that with a generous amount of sauce and a bit of cheese and baked as directed, adding a few (3-5 minutes, depending on your oven) to account for the layered approach.

• I did choose to turn the broiler on for just a bit after the cheese was melted to give the enchilada bake that golden glow.
  

• I served the enchiladas with Knorr's Spanish rice and black beans warmed with a touch of salt and a few pinches of cumin.

The verdict: It's good! Maybe a smidge salty (probably because of the use of so many prepared sauces/foods. Next time, I may try with chicken I have roasted or cooked so I can control sodium levels a little more.

Up next month: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, page 105

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