In anticipation of my weekend journey to San Diego, I threw together some chicken enchiladas late last week. Truth be told, it was an exercise in convenience more than anything -- I had leftover canned pumpkin from my Halloween cookies and no idea how to use it up. (Pumpkin pie, you say? Ick, I say!)
Then I remembered a recipe I spied several months back that paired chicken enchiladas with a pumpkin sauce. One Google search later, I found the recipe. I modified it slightly, adding some thinly sliced zucchini to the chicken and scallions that're stuffed inside the corn tortillas. It was a healthy way to add bulk and flavor without adding calories.
The dish was a success -- it took about an hour from start to finish (hint: buy a rotisserie chicken or cooked breast meat from the deli aisle). The sauce had a good amount of zing, and the combination of chicken, soft zucchini, and earthy pumpkin was like throwing on flannel PJs and fuzzy slippers and digging into a great book on a cold night.
Sounds great! Yet another recipe to add to my "must try" pile. I'm with you on pumpkin pie-blech! Did you ever find recipes to fill your new serving dish?
Posted by: Tracy | November 11, 2005 at 08:31 AM
I'm having a dinner party in a few weeks and I plan to bust out the serving dish then. I'll use the bowls for some combination of (a) popcorn with rosemary and sea salt -- stole that from another blogger -- (b) cannelini bean dip -- in an attempt to replicate what we ate at Region. Not sure how to get those two to mingle without mingling, so I may just pick one all the way through.
Posted by: Catherine | November 11, 2005 at 08:41 AM
Interesting concept and very healthy! Glad it was a success.
Have a fun weekend, Catherine!
Posted by: Beth | November 11, 2005 at 05:23 PM
Catherine -- *canned* pumpkin??!! You disappoint me! ;-)
Seriously, try making pumpkin pie with *real* pumpkin, and you'll never say "ick" again. It's super easy and I've got a great recipe (it's that time of the year, no?).
Posted by: Robyn | November 13, 2005 at 06:00 PM
Beth -- Thanks. We went down for dinner at my favorite restaurant ever, Manresa. (sigh) Another meal to remember.
Robyn -- I know, I'm sort of the anti-foodie foodie. I'm not sure I believe scraping the pumpkin is worth all that effort; a recent post (can't remember where...) did a comparison of pies baked with canned and real pumpkin and decided that the real one did taste better, but not enough better to be worth the effort. And you know I'm lazy to start with...! If you send me the recipe, I'll consider giving it a go!
Posted by: Catherine | November 14, 2005 at 11:41 AM
You're on. And you roast the pumpkin in the skin, then just scoop it out -- no scraping necessary!
Posted by: Robyn | November 14, 2005 at 06:13 PM
Hi please post the recipe again - the link has moved!
Thanks -
Posted by: Leslie | November 25, 2007 at 12:18 PM
Here is the recipe link again:
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=479f56866a80f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=also_try_p5
Posted by: Catherine | November 25, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Love the idea of pumpkin. The enchiladas look awesome.
I just made some lower fat chicken and cheese enchiladas and put them on my blog. Actually I've made them quite a bit, they are great. Come take a look if you have a chance and let me know what you think.
http://cookingquest.wordpress.com
Posted by: Joe | October 19, 2008 at 06:57 PM