Modified Trig Style Enchiladas

Over the winter we kept my Dutch ovens on the porch. Big mistake! The smaller one is many years old and has been seasoned over and over again so it was fine. My newer, bigger Dutch oven had a fair amount of rust on it. I'm not sure what happened but it took a week with a steel brush and steel wool to get it seasoned back into shape. I decided to give it a workout today with some Trig Style Enchiladas.

I got an idea for a modification from a restaurant here in town. They make something very similar to Trig Style Enchiladas but instead of using all sour cream they use half sour cream and half Ranch dressing. You can see the original recipe here. This time I made it with Ranch dressing and I cut out the salsas and the enchilada sauce to make the enchiladas more white than red. Either way you can't go wrong. One thing that Trig emphasized was that he liked the top layer to be crispy like a cracker with cheese and tomato chunks. He said he liked the contrast so that it is almost like a pizza on top with a gooey delicious mess beneath.

Trig Style Enchiladas

Makes a hefty 12 inch dutch oven full - enough for 5 to 6 people

Chicken base:
Fry 4 strips of bacon in a cast iron skillet. Remove the bacon, cool and crumble. In the grease saute 1 chopped onion.
Add 1 pound of chicken, cut up into stir fry style pieces. Brown.
Add a can of diced green chilis and their juice
Spice the mixture by adding the following spices:
2 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
a dash or two of pepper

Next add 1 or 2 chipotle peppers. These come in a can in sauce. Chop them up before adding. Finally add 1 cup sour cream, 1 cup Ranch dressing, the crumbled bacon and 1 bunch of green onions, chopped. Stir and cook until combined.

To assemble the enchiladas:
Take 3 tortilla shells and spread them with refried beans like you would peanut butter on a piece of bread. Place them into the dutch oven, covering the bottom. Pour some of the chicken mixture on top. Keep repeating layers until you run out of chicken mixture. To finish off the dish, place 3 more tortillas on top. Top with about 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and one diced tomato. Bake in the dutch oven until done. You will know it is done because the cheese will be melted and just starting to brown. Also the top layer of tortillas will just be starting to turn crispy around the edges. Let it sit 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.