2016 was not a good year for many reasons, and it seemed to impact my ability to post recipes. Not that I didn’t cook often…. Just prioritized my hunger over taking pictures and capturing every ingredient and step Of all the wonderful recipes I cooked last year and neglected to share, this one stuck with me the most. I first put this recipe together last fall after I received a bunch of collard greens in a produce delivery box. The only time I had ever had a collard was in the south and they had been slow cooked to the point that they hardly resembled the beautiful bright green HUGE leaves that they once were. My raw vegan friend had been using collards to make veggie wraps and that seemed like an interesting – albeit bland – route to go. I decided I would take a stab at using the collards as some sort of wrap but I would definitely be cooking them and definitely be incorporating meat some way. After clicking around through a handful of recipes I landed on enchiladas and I was happily surprised with the end result. I just moved into a new, awesome apartment with my boyfriend and I knew I wanted to recreate this dish ASAP and this time I remembered to take pictures. I love making my own sauce but that’s totally not necessary for this recipe (bottled enchilada sauce works fine, maybe even better).

Ingredients:

• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp ancho powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup corn (fresh or thawed from frozen)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce (bottled or homemade)
• 6 extra large collard greens, stems removed from leaves
• 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 1/2 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
• Toppings: chopped cilantro, sour cream, cotija cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat oil in a heavy cast iron over medium high heat. Combine spices and season both sides of the chicken breasts. Cook chicken through, approximately 7 minutes per side. Set chicken on a plate off to the side. When chicken is cool enough to handle, shred by hand.
• Add onions to the pan with the chicken drippings and sauté until translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add garlic and corn and continue cooking for another minute. Add shredded chicken, cilantro and 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat until ready to assemble.
• Blanch the collard greens by cooking in boiling, salted water for 15 seconds. Remove to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to dry.
• Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 dish. Spoon 1/4 cup of chicken filling into each collard green and fold / roll to seal. Place each enchilada in the dish, seam side down. Cover enchiladas with remaining 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and both cheeses.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and melted. Serve with toppings.