This recipe is “the whole enchilada,” so to speak.  I’m giving you a method for poaching the chicken, making the enchilada sauce from scratch, and assembling the actual enchiladas.  The only thing we’re not covering today is how to make corn tortillas, and I am sure homemade corn tortillas are the only thing that would make these enchiladas better.  If you buy cooked chicken and canned enchilada sauce, you don’t really need a recipe to make enchiladas.  Not judging of course, because we’ve all been there and shortcuts have their time and place.  But if you can plan ahead, these are amazing.  My entire family loves these and let me tell you, they’re a tough crowd.

I grew up on Long Island and didn’t even taste Mexican food until I moved to Los Angeles after college.  My kids have grown up in LA and they are Mexican food experts, sometimes having lengthy discussions about which local taco joint has the best this or that.  So when I make something Mexican that gets the thumbs-up, I am relieved and proud at the same time.  Ironically, these are not my personal favorite enchiladas.  I am more of a green (tomatillo) sauce person, so I am obsessed with the enchiladas verdes here.  But my family digs these.  I’ve been making enchiladas rojas for years and my son (Mr. Picky) used to call these “chicken tacos with Mexican tomato sauce.”

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