Quick Cooking

Freshman year in college, my food science teacher instructed me to pull a hair from my head and put it in a petrie dish to watch the bacteria multiply. In the time it took to leave class, hit a frat party, wake up ill and go back to school, my single well-washed hair had grown yellow pulsating threads. Staphylococcus was the name of the game and from that point on I’ve looked suspiciously at sandwich shops where hats aren’t part of the standard uniform. Yet at home, I cook with abandon, swishing my chin-length locks all over the place. This is probably why I found a dark hair melted around a piece of cheese in my enchiladas at lunch today. I finished them off anyway because although my office is suicidally tame, I still like to think of myself as that dangerous frat-partying freshman, willing to court illness for a moment of supreme rapture.

The Rules: "Quick Cooking" is looking for delicious main courses that are table-ready in 30 minutes or less

The Prize: $500.00 cash to the Grand Prize winner, $300.00 grocery shopping spree to the second-place winner, $200.00 free merchandise certificate for our Country Store mail-order catalog, full of handy kitchen items, cookbooks, clothing, gifts and more, to the third-place winner, $100.00 check to the fourth-place winner, $25.00 check to each of the runners-up.

The Entry: Chicken Tomatillo Enchiladas

Serves 4

*2 chicken breasts, boned and skinned, cut in thirds
*½ cup chopped yellow onion
*2 small cans Herdez Salsa verde
*1/2 cup chicken stock
*1 orange
*1 lime
*8 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese
*12 corn tortillas
*1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Put the chicken breast pieces and chopped onion in a 2-quart sauce pan. Cover with salsa verde and chicken stock, bring to a boil and poach chicken until cooked through, 8 minutes. Turn off heat, remove chicken and chop into small pieces. Put chicken pieces in a bowl, squeeze orange and lime over chicken. Wrap corn tortillas in a kitchen towel and microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute until soft. Wrap each tortilla in a tight tube around 3 tablespoons chicken filling and arrange enchiladas in a baking dish. Pour salsa verde sauce over enchiladas and scatter cheese heavily over top. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes and then broil the top until cheese is bubbly. Serve with sour cream.