Home Cooks Online

A spicy, cheesy, hot dinner that transforms leftover cooked meat into a new meal, by Trevy Thomas.

Leftover Chicken & Pork Enchilada. Photo: T. ThomasLeftover dinner happens.  One night you make this fabulous chicken dish, and the next morning, it greets you from the refrigerator looking awfully yesterday.  What to do with that beast of yore?  My best solutions have been to transform the previous night’s meat into an entirely new creation.  In fact, I want it to be unrecognizable.  My roast chicken and potatoes might’ve been great once, but the re-heated leftovers are not very enthusing.  Like all good leftover dishes, this one is slightly lame, and by that I mean it doesn’t require much effort, or special ingredients or creativity on your part.  After all, one night of brilliance is all that should be expected of a home cook.  The next night is a holiday.  So this dish is both a cooking expedition and a reprieve too.  There is only so much brilliance a girl can produce in one week.

Leftover Chicken and Pork Enchilada Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 can enchilada sauce (or substitute tomato sauce with some hot sauce added)
• 1 jar salsa (or whatever is left)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• Big splash wine or vermouth
• Grated cheese (cheddar & asiago is what I used, but go with what you have)
• Diced leftover cooked meat (chicken, pork, beef or combination about 2 cups will fill 8 tortillas)
• 2 spring onions, chopped (or white/yellow whatever onion)
• 8 Tortillas (or as many as you have)
• Sour cream or yogurt for topping

Directions:

1. Mix together the enchilada sauce, salsa, garlic & wine in a saucepan over medium heat until just hot.  
2. Put most of the grated cheese and chopped meat in a bowl, along with the onions
3. .  Add half the sauce mixture to the meat and stir.  Taste.  It should be good.  If not, season.  
4. Rub a large baking dish with a tiny bit of oil just to moisten.  
5. Put one tortilla on a plate and fill with a small handful of meat-sauce filling.  Roll up and place seam down in the baking dish.  Repeat until the pan is full.  
6. Put any leftover filling along the sides of the pan.  Top with a bit more grated cheese and the rest of the sauce.  
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 20  minutes.  
8. Serve with a dollop of yogurt/sour cream and anything else good you have (like avocado or olives).