Recipe: Gizzi Eskine’s leftover turkey enchiladas
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
• 500g tomatoes
• 1-2tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• A few thyme sprigs
• 50g ground almonds
• 2tbsp ground cumin
• 1tsp chilli powder
• ½tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼tsp ground cloves
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1-2tsp cocoa powder
• 700ml fresh chicken stock
• 400g leftover cooked turkey or chicken, shredded
• 4 medium or 8 small corn tortillas
• 120g Cheddar cheese, grated plus 30g for topping
To serve
• 2 avocados
• Juice of 3 limes
• Sea salt flakes
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 100g soured cream
• 1 Little Gem lettuce, finely shredded
• 3tbsp pickled jalapeños
• Half a small bunch (about 15g) fresh coriander
1. First, char your tomatoes. You can do this one of two ways: the ‘safe’ way, by roasting them at the highest temperature your oven goes until the skins just blacken, or the more risky way of charring them on a griddle pan, or over an actual flame. Once blackened, bung the tomatoes, skins and all, into a blender and blitz until puréed.
2. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onion very slowly over a medium heat for 10–15 minutes or until the onion has fully softened and started to turn golden brown. Add the garlic and thyme for the last couple of minutes of cooking. Now turn up the heat, add the ground almonds and toast them for a couple of minutes. Add the spices and the cocoa powder and cook for a minute, then add the puréed tomatoes. They will be quite liquidy, so you will need to cook them until they have dried out a little, to concentrate the flavour. Add the stock to the pan and cook for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has begun to thicken, reduce and become full-flavoured.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/ Gas 7. Put the sauce into a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour ¾ of the sauce back into the pan, along with your shredded turkey or chicken meat, and cook slowly over a low heat for a further 15 minutes. (The rest of the sauce will be used to top the enchiladas.) As it cooks, the meat will get really ‘shreddy’ now, and the sauce will get very intense in flavour.
4. In a dry frying pan, quickly warm your tortillas over a high heat. Divide filling and grated cheese between the tortillas and roll them up like cannelloni, placing them neatly into a 2-litre baking dish. Pour over the reserved sauce and top with the remaining cheese. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the dish is golden.
5. Meanwhile, chop avocados and mix with juice of two limes and salt to taste. In a separate bowl, mix the chopped tomatoes with the chilli, garlic, remaining lime juice and salt to taste. Serve with the chopped avocado, salsa, soured cream, lettuce, jalapeños and coriander.
‘This recipe is terrific for using up leftover turkey, but you could also poach a whole chicken to make it,’ says Gizzi. ‘While the dish’s freshness is a welcome break from any heavy foods, there is also something reassuringly comforting about its spices and use of cocoa.’
Read more: Gizzi Erskine’s Christmassy blood orange mimosa recipe