Way back when I moved into my first apartment I realized that I needed to get my little bu-hind in gear and start making foods that could sustain us for the duration. Not that I hadn’t been cooking prior to that. I was pretty pro at making curly fries and grilled sandwiches. I’d also dabbled here and there with a failed onion soup recipe, a successful Chicken and Apples dish and a so-so eggplant dish. Who does one turn to in their time of need? Well if you’re a 22 year old me, you turn to Martha Stewart. Hush up now, I still love her dearly despite her extracurricular stock activities. Suffice to say that her recipe for Chilaquiles not only turned out insanely well, I’m still making it 5 years later. It remains one of my go-to recipes as well as one of the fiance’s favorite meals. I made this last night and he actually shouted “YES!!!!” and high-fived me. If that isn’t a testament for an awesome recipe I’m not sure what is.
Over time, I’ve wavered a little bit from the original recipe. For instance, I use chicken or black beans and tomatoes. I also use a good bit of Adobo Powder. We’ll get to all that in a minute.
To get started, we get out a package of flour tortillas. If you want to be a Mrs. Authentic priss-pants you could use corn tortillas. Also I’m using the big 12″ suckers here because I’m making a double batch. If this recipe isn’t fantastic enough fresh, its even better as leftovers so I always make double. Plus this way we each get our favorite toppings. If you’re making a single batch you can use a package of 5″, 8″ or 10″ tortillas and it’ll work just fine. No matter what size you’re using slice them into strips. Then into cubes. This makes them easier to eat later so you don’t need a knife.
Then spread those cubes of love out onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle them with olive oilor spray them with pam and sprinkle them with some salt. When you’re done they should be nice and gooey and lightly salted.
Pop them into a 400 degree oven and watch them closely. Browned tortillas = good eats. Burned tortillas = honey call for Domino’s I ruined dinner.
Next up, we need to get out a saucepan. I usually chop up about a half a good sized spanish onion for this. You could use more or less depending on your tastes. First date, definitely use a half an onion. Its just good practice. *nod* Chop it up roughly and toss it in the pan.
Add a good scoop of garlicand a few slices of jalapeno. If you like things 9th ring of hell hot go ahead and use more. If ground black pepper makes your mouth burn you could leave it out altogether. It’ll be pansy chilaquiles but as long as you like it, go for it.
Now for my chilaquile secret ingredient. Adobo Powder. I like to use this for a lot of different things: grilled chicken, oven fries, sprinkled over steamed vegetables. It never goes to waste in my house. So sprinkle the onion mixture pretty liberally.
Lastly, add about 2 and a half to 3 cups of chicken stock. If you would like to make this dish vegetarian you could use vegetable stock and prepare the black bean version. I’m equal opportunity, I is. Set the heat on your burner to medium and get it rolling.
Next order of business is the chicken. For one batch of chicken chilaquiles I usually use one good sized breast. Since it cooks faster this way I slice it in half lengthwise. Plus my burners here are erratic and it burns the outside before it cooks in the center. It just makes life easier. Sprinkle it with some Adobo Seasoning.
Whoa! By now I can smell toasted tortillas. So before I add the chicken to the pan I check on them. Good thing too. See how they’re browned at the edges of the pan? You could toss them and return it to the oven to get all of the tortillas crispy. I like some crunchy and some squishy. It helps them soak up the sauce later.
So I divvy them up into two aluminum dishes. You could use glass, ceramic or even polish bakeware if you wanted. Just make sure that there is enough room to add your toppings, cheese and sauce without overflowing. Oh and DON’T TURN THE OVEN OFF. WE’LL BE RETURNING THE FINISHED PRODUCTS THERE POSTHASTE!!!
Alright, now that we’re done with that step, back to the chicken. In a pan over medium heat sprayed with some Pam. Add the chicken and sprinkle the other side with Adobo.
By now your onions and stock should be boiling at a pretty good clip. I usually let it go until I’m ready to puree’ it so don’t worry if its just hanging out boiling away. I promise it’ll all turn out fine.
Now, I’m not much a fan of the chicken variety. I like mine with black beans and tomatoes. Of course you could top it with banana peppers, kidney beans, chorizo. Anything you like so go ahead and top it with your favorite ingredients. Once you’ve added your ingredients, sprinkle with a little adobo powder. Mine usually ends up looking a lot like this.
By now the chicken should be pretty well cooked. Remove it from the pan and chop it up pretty well. Sometimes I put it thru the food processor so that its really finely shredded but today I just chop it up. Add it to the top of the tortillas.
Now my poppets, don’t be stingy on this next step. Because when you’re stingy, vicious monsters that look like Paula Deen come from your closet at night and torture you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Add a liberal amount of cheese (I like to use sharp cheddar) to the top of these.
Now its time to retrieve our sauce. Add it to the blender and puree it pretty finely so that there aren’t any huge chunks of onion and jalapeno.
Pour itall over the tops of the chilaquiles. Even if it looks like a lot of sauce, trust me. Just pour it on. The tortillas will soak it up and become pliable, spicy and delicious. When you’re done, they’re ready for the next step.
Into the oven they go! At this point I turn the oven off. The heat of the oven will melt the cheese and warm the beans/tomatoes. Don’t forget that everything is pretty well cooked and you’re just trying to get the sauce to absorb, the cheese to melt and everything to re-warm thru.
I usually give them about 10-15 minutes. When they look like this they’re done.
All that’s left to do is serve them up! First the chicken.
Its not pretty but its so amazingly good you won’t be able to believe it.
Each dish makes about 4 servings. 2 heaping sized dinner portions and 2 smaller lunch portions. I know there are quite a few steps to this one but trust me, its sooooooooo worth it. Give it a shot and see what you think!
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