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dining in: chicken chilaquiles

About a year ago, I bought a cookbook from the magazine Everyday Food. The cookbook itself is quite nice — clear instructions and beautiful, huge photos for each recipe. But I have a track record for buying lovely cookbooks and barely using them, and this was no exception. I’m aiming to change that, though, and today brought it with us for our Wegmans grocery run.

Our first experiment: Chicken Chilaquiles

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes in puree (I used one small can of whole tomatoes and one small can of puree. The next time I do this, I would probably use diced tomatoes in place of the whole tomatoes, just to ensure a more consistent texture.)
• 2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped (about 1 heaping tablespoon), plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from same can)
• Coarse salt
• 1 small cooked rotisserie chicken (about 1 3/4 pounds), skinned and shredded (about 4 cups), carcass discarded
• 1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves, chopped, plus 4 sprigs for garnish (Oh, how I love the smell of fresh cilantro.)
• 4 cups (about 3 ounces) tortilla chips
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream (We didn’t use this.)
• 1.75 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/4 cup) (In place of feta, we used queso fresco, which has a similar salty tang.)

Directions

1. Combine oil and garlic in a large (3-to-4-quart) saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and sizzling, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes with their puree (breaking tomatoes up), chipotles and adobo, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil; season with salt. Reduce heat and simmer rapidly until lightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Add chicken and cook, stirring, until hot, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in chopped cilantro.
4. Divide chips among four shallow bowls; top with chicken mixture and sauce. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, sour cream, and feta. Serve.

Serves 4

We served this with some leftover rice, mixed with lime juice and cilantro for adventure’s sake. (I overdid it with the lime juice.) Still, I was really happy with how this turned out. And as a bonus, we had plenty leftover for tomorrow’s lunches.

I think our next experiment, later this week, may be fish tacos.

(Photo by Rob.)