This is one of my best original recipes ever…it is swoon~worthy divine every time! But it needs a name…In the past I have called it
Ok, You Seriously Have to Make This Chicken Semi-enchilada Sorta Cannelloni Dish! a little wordy, yes? And then there’s
A Mexican and an Italian go to Alabama by way of California…confusing at best!! I’m from California but now I live in Alabama and its a combo of Mexican enchiladas and Italian cannelloni…Ok, now I’m confused!!!
So for now I am calling it California Cannelloni unless you can come up with something better!
Bottom line is this is kind of an American version of an enchilada or a cannelloni, it’s delicious, and it needs a name!
It’s full of chicken, mushrooms, peppers, bacon, and cheese, covered in a creamy sauce and enclosed in a velvet blanket of tortillas. Seriously.
First make the sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour, cook and stir for 1 minute to eliminate the raw flour flavor
Add the liquids all at once, and stir well. Season. Sauce won’t be happy at first but it will settle down. Let sauce hang on on low while you make the filling, stirring it now and then. In 8-10 minutes it should be thick and creamy.
For the filling I like to cook the bacon in a skillet first and use the drippings to saute the chicken
and then the vegetables
and then the mushrooms
Those thirsty mushrooms will soak up all the liquid if you brown them first. Add a drizzle of olive oil if pan gets too dry
Chop the chicken and combine it with the vegetables and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Set up an assembly line with the ingredients
I like to lay out all the tortillas and then top them with the chicken mixture, then drizzle with sauce and top with cheese.
Roll them up and place in your prepared pan. It looks like you won’t have enough room but show them who’s boss and squeeze them together until every one is in the dish
See? They will cooperate!
Smother with sauce and sprinkle with some more cheese. This can be held at this point, covered tightly, in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.
Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes then uncover and bake a few minutes more or until hot, bubbly and golden. You can cut into squares to serve, it’s hard to serve as individual enchiladas.
California Canneloni
Ingredients
Enchiladas
- 2 boneless chicken breast halves cut into tenders
- 4 bacon slices
- 1/2 large onion chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 red bell pepper chopped
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 6-8 flour tortillas
- freshly grated Parmesan or any white cheese or mix
- S&P
White Sauce
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 c flour
- 2 c low fat 1/2 n 1/2
- 1 1/2 c chicken broth
- 6 T white wine
Instructions
White Sauce
- Melt 1/2 c butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour til blended and cook for 1 minute whisking constantly.
- Stir in cream, broth, wine, 1 tsp S&P and bring to boil. Cook for 8 min or til thick and bubbly, whisking constantly.
Enchiladas
- Dice bacon and cook over medium low heat until uniformly cooked and crisp, stirring occasionally.
- While bacon is cooking chop the vegetables and start the white sauce. The sauce can simmer while you are preparing the rest, just stir it every now and then.
- When bacon is crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Pour off most of drippings from pan and set aside.
- Increase heat to medium high and saute chicken tenders until golden, 2-3 minutes per side [chicken might not be thoroughly cooked through but thats ok, it will finish cooking in the oven] Set cooked tenders aside.
- Add more bacon drippings to pan and saute celery, onion, and garlic. While vegetables are sauteing shred chicken into small pieces and when vegetables are done return chicken and bacon to pan, season and stir to combine.
- Spray 8” baking pan with Pam.
- Lay out tortillas and divide mixture evenly on tortillas, making a line of filling down the center. Pour enough white sauce into pan to cover bottom. Drizzle some sauce on chicken mixture on tortillas and set aside.
- Sprinkle some cheese on top of sauce and roll tortillas up [they will be FULL] and place in baking dish, seam side down.
- Pour remaining sauce over all and top with more cheese. Cover with greased side down foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours.
- Bake at 350 for 35-45 min, remove foil and continue to bake until bubbly. Serves 2-4. Double or Triple as needed and use a larger pan.
Notes
Dig in!!
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