A grateful gringo's totally inauthentic interpretation of a great Mexican classic.

Makes 8-10 enchiladas, serves 4-5 people

olive oil
4 chicken thighs (boneless skinless is easiest)
2 large white onions
white wine (optional)
cumin
coriander
paprika
pepper
salt
4 jalapeños (or other green chiles)
1.5 pounds tomatillos
1 lime
4-5 garlic cloves
1 bunch cilantro
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese
8-10 7-inch tortillas (I do flour, you could do corn)

Fry the chicken thighs in olive oil until browned, and remove. Roughly chop one of the onions and fry it in the same pot until golden. Put in maybe a teaspoon (or more) each of the ground cumin, coriander and paprika, grind in some pepper, and fry the spices for a minute. Put the chicken back in, and cover with about half white wine, half water (or all water if you don't want to use wine). Mix in a pinch of salt. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the chicken is just starting to fall apart, maybe a half hour. Take the chicken out and chop it up into small chunks. Boil the braising liquid down to a thick glaze. Mix the chicken into the glaze.

For the salsa verde, pre-heat the oven to at least 400 F. Cut the chiles in half, scrape out and discard the seeds (or leave them in if you like it spicy). Husk the tomatillos and cut them in half. Peel the other onion and cut it into a few large chunks. Cut the lime in half — only use one half of it if you don't like your food too acidic. Put the veggies and lime into a wide pan and toss them in olive oil. Put the pan into the oven. While the salsa is roasting, peel the garlic cloves. After the salsa has a bit of color, put in the whole garlic cloves and stir everything around. Continue cooking until the veggies seem half cooked, maybe 20 minutes total. Take the pan out. Squeeze the juice out of the lime and discard. Dump the salsa into a food processor with a handful of cilantro and puree until reasonably smooth. Return the salsa to the wide pan.

Grate up the cheese. Put maybe half a cup of the salsa into the chicken, along with half of the cheese. Mix up the filling and check for seasoning.

Grease up a 7x11 inch baking dish. Dunk a tortilla into the salsa, then bring it to the baking dish. Scoop in a modest line of filling, and roll up the tortilla, seam-side down. Repeat until you've filled your baking dish and/or exhausted your filling. Spoon the rest of the salsa on top of the enchiladas, and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese. Bake uncovered until the cheese is browned to your liking, maybe 20 minutes. Top the individual enchiladas with more cilantro, if you're into that.