Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

2-0. The defense has been dominant — Williams has the secondary playing with an aggression that takes away the opposing team's comfort zones before they establish them. This is the kind of defensive philosophy I believe in: pressure before the snap, not reaction after. We're taking away options rather than waiting to cover them.

Jordan Rivera threw for 280 yards in the second game. He found a rhythm with a junior receiver named Damien Parker who runs routes with a precision I haven't seen at the high school level in years. These two have a chemistry that you don't install — it just appears between certain players, and your job as a coach is to get out of the way and protect the space where it lives.

September chile roasting. Third season since Ruben. This one was the most normal — not the forced normalcy of grief management, but genuine normalcy that has been rebuilt over years. I bought forty-five pounds. Diego helped me bag. The twins handed me the bags. Lisa sat in a camp chair nearby and read. We talked about nothing important while the propane flame did its work.

After we finished, Diego said, "Uncle Ruben did this with you, right?" I said yes. He nodded. "Tell me more about him." So I did. I sat on the tailgate and talked about Ruben for an hour while the chile bags cooled — the real Ruben, not the sanitized memorial version. His jokes, his stubbornness, his specific laugh, the way he called his steaks "medium-always," his disdain for anything less than maximum heat on the grill. Diego listened to all of it. Some of it made him smile. Some of it made him quiet. All of it was the right conversation to be having.

After forty-five pounds of chile, after the propane flame went cold and the bags were tied and stacked and Diego had heard everything I could tell him about Ruben — the real version, not the careful one — we were all just hungry in the best possible way. Some years I’ve used the freshly roasted chile in salsa or stew, but this year it went straight into enchiladas, because enchiladas feel like what you make when the hard work of the day has already been done and all that’s left is sitting down together. The roasted chile goes in the sauce. It carries everything the day already carried.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 cups cooked shredded chicken (rotisserie works well)
1 1/2 cups roasted hatch green chiles, peeled and chopped (fresh-roasted or thawed from frozen)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream, divided
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 tablespoons butter
Fresh cilantro and sliced green onions, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup of the roasted green chiles, 1 cup of the Monterey Jack, garlic powder, cumin, and salt. Mix until evenly combined.
Make the creamy sauce. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, remaining 1/2 cup sour cream, onion powder, and remaining 1 cup roasted green chiles. Stir until smooth and warmed through, about 4 minutes. Do not boil.
Warm the tortillas. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Briefly warm each tortilla for about 20 seconds per side to make them pliable. Stack and cover with a towel.
Fill and roll. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken filling down the center of each tortilla. Roll tightly and place seam-side down in the prepared baking dish, fitting them snugly in a single layer.
Top and bake. Pour the creamy green chile sauce evenly over the rolled enchiladas. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese over the top. Bake uncovered for 30–35 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden at the edges and the sauce is bubbling.
Rest and garnish. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Top with fresh cilantro and sliced green onions.

Nutrition (per serving)

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas — The Sauce We Make After the Roasting Is Done