I volunteered to make something for the Teacher’s Appreciation Day luncheon at school today. Since tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would tie in a little Mexican theme and make a Chicken Enchilada Ring.
This is a fabulous recipe that is from The Pampered Chef but as I always do, I tweaked it a little and made it my own. This is also one of those great dishes where you can make good use of leftovers and what you have on hand. The chicken you can make fresh or use some leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken. You can eliminate the spicy and add some lemon zest and fresh herbs. You can make it vegetarian and just use vegetables. You can make it with ½ chicken and ½ broccoli, spinach or a mix of vegetables. You could also substitute the chicken for ground beef or turkey and make a taco ring. There are so many possibilities. Just use the “basics” of 2 cups filling, ½ cup mayo and 1 cup of shredded cheese. The combinations are endless. Use what you have on hand.
Here is what you need:
1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies, undrained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Southwestern Seasoning Mix
2 plum tomatoes
1 lime
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup tortilla chips
2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) crescent rolls
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream
Here is what you do:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Take your chopped chicken and put it in a large mixing bowl. Easy enough right?
Wow, that picture is dark - sorry! It's just chicken though.
Take your shredded cheeses, green chilies, mayonnaise and southwest seasoning and add it to your chicken. Mix well.
On a side note – I like to use block cheese that I shred myself. If you want to use the bags of preshredded cheese that you can buy in the supermarket – then go ahead. It’s your time, money, kitchen and recipe. Do what’s best for you. The reason, though, that I like to shred it myself, is because the bagged cheese will usually have an anticlumping agent in it, such as flour. The cheese will melt but it won’t have that ooey gooey melting consistency that the fresh shredded cheese will have. Plus, I prefer not to have added ingredients in my cheese.
See how much lighter and fluffier this cheese looks?
Next, take one of your tomatoes and core, seed and chop it and add it to your chicken mixture. I like to use plum tomatoes here because they are meatier and have less juice and seeds then say, a beefsteak tomato. But, if all you have on hand is a vine ripened or other tomato, then that is fine as well. Just wing it – it’s what I always do.
Chop your cilantro and throw it in the bowl along with your minced garlic. Cut your lime in half and juice one half of the lime into the bowl. The recipe calls for 1 tsp but again, just juice it right in. Don’t try squeezing the lime into a measuring spoon. It will be a big mess – I promise you!
Next comes a fun part. If you have children helping you cook, this would be a good step for them. Put the tortilla chips into a Ziploc bag and scoosh out all the air. Seal it well. With a rolling pin, meat tenderizer, hammer, etc., crush the chips. This makes great use of those leftover tortilla chips that are sitting at the bottom of the bag that are basically pre-crushed for you anyway. Check your pantry closet; you probably have a bag in there.
Add ½ of the chips to the chicken mixture and stir it up.
Next comes the “ring” part. Don’t be scared. It’s really quite easy.
On a large round baking stone, sheet tray, whatever you are baking with, sprinkle the rest of the crushed tortilla chips. Like so:
Open up your 2 crescent roll dough packages and separate them into triangles. Place one in the 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions. Like so:
See – that wasn’t too bad.
Next, start to fill in your open spots 4 at a time. Here is what it looks like:
Now, this doesn’t have to be neat or look perfect at all. It is all going to get wrapped up into a little package anyway. It should look like a sunburst.
Once all your crescents are laid out, press or roll them down so the dough is even. You just want to flatten it out and adhere it all together so it will hold the filling and cook evenly. As you can see, I used my fingertips – it’s how I do things. The less I have to wash, the better.
We’re almost done. Take your chicken mixture and shlop it all into the middle of the dough. Again, it doesn’t have to look pretty; it’s all getting folded up. If you feel you must, you can use a large scoop and make nice little neat chicken mounds in the middle. This is what it should look like.
Start with your points and fold them up and over the chicken mix into the middle of the ring and tuck the points under. Like this:
Again, this doesn’t have to be neat. It looks better when some of the chicken filling is showing. Plus, there will not be enough to fully cover it. This also leaves you some garnishing opportunities.
Here is what it looks like all folded up and in a neatish ring.
At this point, if you want to be creative, you can shape the ring into a heart.
This is fun for Valentines Day or just because. I have also done this at Halloween and make the ring into a coiled snake using olives for eyes and a roasted pepper sticking out of its mouth as a tongue. It was kind of cool, too since the tortilla chips made the snake look like he was shedding his skin. Appeals to the morbid/semi gross part of me. You have to have fun with your food!
If you still have some leftover tortilla chips or there is some floating around on your baking sheet, scoop it up and sprinkle it over the top. Put it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the crescents are nicely browned.
While the chicken is in the oven, take your remaining tomato and lime half and slice them for garnish. Like this:
When ring is done baking, garnish with the tomatoes and limes and this is what you get:
Ain’t she pretty? Here she is all ready to serve with the sour cream and salsa in the middle.
So, next time you’re looking to “re-invent” your leftovers or make something new, give it a try. And be sure to let me know what you did. E-mail me with ideas, pictures, recipes; I would love to hear from you!
Oh, and since its Teacher Appreciation Week – go appreciate a teacher in some way. I’m sure even a simple thank you note would make their day.
