Chicken Chorizo Enchiladas (with a secret)

I love a good secret.  I'm sometimes good at keeping them but not today.  These enchiladas have a secret ingredient that caused CA to ask "How much cheese did you put in here?"  In fact, there's only cheese on the top of these guys - no cheese inside or in the sauce.  The sauce however, does have zucchini in it.  I had no idea that putting zucchini in the sauce would make it creamier, I just had zucchini to get rid of and thought it would make the enchiladas a little healthier.  Double bonus... creamier/fake cheesier and more veggies.

This recipe is actually a collection of accidents.  I intended to make chicken enchiladas, but once I cooked the chicken I realized it wasn't enough so I quickly dug through my freezer and found 2 frozen links of chorizo and added those to the mix.

spotted... a margarita... yummy!

So, how do you make these guys?  Start with the sauce...

Sauteed onions, garlic, jalapeno and zucchini are pureed with tomatoes, chilis in adobo and spices.  The recipe I was loosely following then cooks the sauce to tighten it up.  I, however chose not to do that...

OK fine, I forgot to cook it.

I don't know if it would have tasted better if I cooked it.  It was delicious so I'm cool with skipping the cooking.

Making the sauce is really the hardest part of this whole business.  Otherwise it's just cooking meat, rolling up the enchiladas and topping them with cheese.  Not hard.

So, these are pretty delicious.  However, they look disgusting in photos.  They look like dog food.  However, if dog food tasted like this, Sconnie and I would be fighting over his bowl.  I'm pretty sure he'd win.

Chicken Chorizo Enchiladas
Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients
1 T Olive Oil
1 small Zucchini, roughly chopped
1/2 White Onion, roughly chopped
1 Jalapenos, seeded and chopped (use only 1/2 jalapeno if you don't want it too spicy)
2 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
12 oz (3/4 lb) Boneless Chicken Thighs (breasts would work too)
1 1/2 tsp Salt, divided
2 links Chorizo, browned and drained
2 Tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 Chilis in Adobo and 2 T of Adobo Sauce

1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Oregano

8-10 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium/high heat.  Saute zucchini, onion, jalapeno and garlic until soft (about 4 minutes).  Add the chicken, 1 tsp of salt and 3/4 cup water.  Bring to a boil and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pot, shred it and combine it with the cooked chorizo in a small bowl.

Take the onion mixture and put it in a blender.  Add the tomatoes, chilis, chili sauce, cumin oregano, allspice and remaining 1/2 tsp of salt.  Blend until smooth.

Take 1/2 cup of the sauce and mix it with the chicken and chorizo mixture.  Place 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of a medium casserole dish.  Place 1/4 cup of the chicken and chorizo mixture in the center of each tortilla and roll up.  Place the tortillas seam side down in the casserole dish.

Note: if the tortillas are dry or cracking you can microwave them in a damp paper towel for 30 seconds and/or dip them in a bit of the enchilada sauce to moisten them.

Top the tortillas with the remaining sauce and then the shredded cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes until heated through.  Turn the broiler on in the oven and broil until the cheese is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

Enjoy!
Julie