Showing posts with label Tex Mex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tex Mex. Show all posts
I am a HUGE fan of Mexican/Latin American flavours! I have never been to any of the Latin American countries myself, so my idea of Mexican food is probably a highly Anglicised version!
I do like to experiment with the flavours which is becoming a lot easier these days as more and more Latin American ingredients become available for us to use over here in the UK.
One company which really is at the forefront of this is Capsicana. I have been buying their products since I discovered them a couple of years ago now.
This recipe I am sharing today uses a pouch of their Ultimate Refried Black Beans. Spicy Refried Black Beans with Chipotle Chili, Garlic and Cumin. These are so delicious. I always have a pouch of them in my cupboard.
They are great just heated up and spooned over rice with a bit of cheese on top. I know the lazy man's supper, or you could go further and call it the Latin American's version of beans on toast!
Today I divided a pouch of them between two large flat breads and then topped them with a mix of grated cheddar and Mozzarella.
This is like a Tex Mex, Latin American Open Faced Chicken Club sandwich. Fusion cooking I guess.
The old and familiar combined with new and edgy flavours in a really delicious way!
I had some leftover cooked chicken to use up, but wanted to do something different with it, and this is the result!
I sweated some onions and peppers until soft and then added some garlic. Then I threw in the diced leftover chicken and some Tex Mex seasoning.
I used Swartz zingy Mexican Street Food seasoning. It has a nice bite. Once that was all heated through and seasoned, I divided the mixture between the two flatbreads.
Topping each with two slices of cooked streaky bacon that I had in the refrigerator leftover from our Sunday night's supper of pancakes, bacon and sliced peaches.
I really am a person that likes to use up everything rather than end up throwing stuff away! So here I have used some leftover chicken and bacon . . .
which on their own wouldn't have served many people but in this disguise end up serving four people! (Or two really hungry ones I suppose!)
The covered flat breads got popped into a moderately hot oven, just long enough to really heat everything through and melt the cheese . . .
While they were baking I whisked together some ranch dressing a a spoonful of chopped adobes in chipotle sauce to create a Chipotle Ranch Dressing . . .
The finished flat bread clubs got drizzled with this dressing . . .
And then I passed some sour cream and prepared guacamole at the table.
Delicious knife and fork sandwiches that were well received and enjoyed immensely . . . and it was just leftovers. A salad on the side goes perfectly with these for a light lunch.
Yield: 4
Mexican Chicken Club Flatbread
Quick, easy and delicious. Another store cupboard favourite and a great way to use up some leftover cooked chicken!
ingredients:
- 2 flatbread or naan
- 1 (2 serving size) pouch refried black beans
- 250g cooked chicken, diced (2 cups)
- 4 slices cooked streaky bacon
- 1 TBS oil
- 1/2 each green and red bell peppers, chopped
- 1/2 large red onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 TBS Mexican spice (I used one from Swartz, Mexican Street blend)
- 185g grated mozzarella and cheddar blend (1 1/2 cups)
Chipotle Ranch Dressing:
- 60ml prepared ranch dressing (1/4 cup)
- 1 tsp adobe sauce
To serve:
- dairy sour cream
- prepared guacamole
instructions:
How to cook Mexican Chicken Club Flatbread
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray with some aluminium foil. Place the flat breads onto the foil. Spread each with half of the black beans and then cover with 1/2 of the cheese.
- Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the peppers and onions. Cook stirring until softened without browning. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Throw in the chicken and the Mexican seasoning. Stir to coat. Divide this mixture evenly between the two flat breads, placing it on top of the cheese. Top each with two slices of bacon.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or so until heated through and the cheese has melted.
- While the flatbreads are baking make the chipotle ranch dressing by whisking the two ingredients together.
- Drizzle the finished flat breads with the chipotle ranch dressing to serve. Cut each in half diagonally and pass the sour cream and guacamole.
If you have never tried the Capsicana products and you are a fan of Latin American Flavours, you really should. Over here they are available at Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Ocado, Booths and Whole Foods. I think you might be able to get some of their things at Tesco also, but I'm not entirely sure about that.
I have one of these Ultimate Fajita Kits here to use as well. Latin fusion with tomato and coconut, sounds delicious don't you think? We love Fajita's!
I am a huge fan of Tex Mex, Mexican . . . anything. I just adore the flavours. It wasn't something we had when I was growing up.
I can't even remember the first time I tasted anything Tex Mex, but I know that it was love at first bite. A love affair that began with that and has steadily grown stronger through the years.
I am also a HUGE fan of the Gilmore Girls. Love all of the characters. I can't tell you how many times we have watched the series. One of my favourite episodes has Luke Dane's grill chef dancing around the restaurant shouting Chilaquiles!
Its a dish he has introduced to the menu in Luke's absence and which has gone over really well. Ever since I first saw that episode I have wanted to try Chilaquiles!
Armed with a curiosity I went on a search to find out exactly what Chilaquiles was! Surely anything that had a grown man dancing around a diner had to be great!
From Websters Dictionary . . .
chi·la·qui·les | \ ˌchē-lä-ˈkē-lās \
A Mexican dish of fried corn tortilla pieces simmered with salsa or mole and typically topped with cheese and other accompaniments (such as sliced onions, shredded chicken, and fried or scrambled eggs)
It is said to be a peasant dish. Well, we are simple folk . . . sounded right up our alley!
Sounded simple enough.
Yesterday I had some leftover chicken, as well as some leftover lightly salted tortilla chips, and decided that I was going to make Chicken Chilaquiles!
I also had a jar of tomato salsa.
I always make my own enchilada sauce. I've been doing this for several years now.
Its easy enough to do and tastes infinitely better than anything from a jar.
Simple Red Enchilada Sauce
Yield: Makes 2 cups
This is a delicious enchilada sauce. You will never want to use store bought again. You can double the recipe and freeze it for future use if you wish. Make sure you have all the ingredients assembled prior to making and it goes together really quickly.
ingredients:
- 3 TBS light olive oil
- 3 TBS flour (whole wheat works well, as does a gluten free flour blend)
- 1 TBS ground mild chili powder (North American style)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano, rubbed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch ground cinnamon
- 2 TBS tomato puree (tomato paste)
- 480ml hot vegetable stock (2 cups)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Simple Red Enchilada Sauce
- Whisk together the dry ingredients until well combined. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Cook, stirring, for several minutes, until quite fragrant and deep in colour. Whisk in the tomato puree and then slowly whisk in the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, whisking constantly. Reduce to low and simmer for about 7 or 8 minutes, whisking occasionally. Whisk in the vinegar. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
I made a batch of that and mixed some of it with the salsa . . .
Then into the baking dish went some crumbled tortilla chips. I used lightly salted and I did crumble them a bit.
You could leave them whole I suppose, but I wanted them to lay a bit more evenly in the dish.
You pour half the sauce over them, and then scatter the shredded chicken over top . . .
You can use leftover roasted chicken, or you can poach chicken on purpose to use in this.
Poaching your own chicken is very easy to do . . .
Just pop your chicken into a saucepan and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit until lukewarm.
By that time your chicken will be cooked through perfectly and be perfectly moist . . . drain it well and then shred it with a couple of forks.
Easy peasy.
Pour the remaining sauce over top of the chicken, scatter with cheese and then bake . . . for a while covered and them for a short time, uncovered.
Perfect!
I scattered spring onions over top and some chopped flat leaf parsley and served. I meant to serve it with some sour cream, but to be honest, we both thought this so delicious looking we tucked in and forgot all about the sour cream!
Simple Chilaquiles
Yield: 4
Nothing could be easier or tastier. Simple and delicious.
ingredients:
- about 30 lightly salted tortilla chips
- 120g tomato salsa (3/4 cup)
- 185g red enchilada sauce (3/4 cup)
- 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
- 120g grated cheese ( cheddar or Jack, 1 cup)
- finely sliced spring onions
instructions:
How to cook Simple Chilaquiles
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch pie tin or an 9 inch square casserole dish.
- Measure the enchilada sauce and salsa into a small saucepan and heat through. Roughly crumble the tortilla chips into the prepared baking dish. Pour half of the sauce mixture over top. Scatter the shredded chicken over this. Pour the remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cover tightly with a sheet of aluminium foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes or so longer.
- Serve hot with some spring onions scattered over the top.
I am in love. I can see me making this simple and delicious dish/casserole often. I think you will fall in love too. It was so tasty I wanted to dance around the dining room shouting Chilaquiles. Somehow . . . I restrained myself. 😉
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
I always seem to have leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator. Not a problem, because I have about a bazillion and a half ways to use it up.
I see myself as somewhat of an expert as using up leftovers. I hate waste.
I read recently that about 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK.
That's pretty disgraceful when you consider that there are roughly 785 million people in the world suffering from malnourishment at any given time. If you have three squares a day count yourself lucky!
This is a recipe I adapted to use up some leftover cooked chicken and some tortillas that I had leftover from the crispy tortilla eggs I cooked the other day.
The original recipe was for BBQ Chicken & Cheese Nachos which I found here.
Its basically pretty similar except that I used a bit of chipotle chili paste in the chicken mixture and I didn't use tortilla chips.
Instead I toasted the leftover tortillas (brush with a tiny bit of oil) over the open gas flame of my stove. If you have never done this, you really need to try it.
Its a real game changer!
They turn out lovely . . . . crisp almost charred edges . . . crisp bubbled bits covering the top. They just taste magnificent!
So anyways, I gas charred my tortillas and then I topped them with the chicken mixture . . .
Which is basically a mixture of leftover shredded cooked/rotisserie chicken, BBQ sauce and the chipotle chili paste.
Could not seriously be any easier.
Just pile that mixture on top of your toasted tortillas and then scatter some grated cheese over the top. You can use any kind of cheese you want.
I used a medium cheddar, but Jack would be good as well, or even a spicy Mexican cheese blend. YUM!
I just used what I had, which was cheddar. We always have that in the house. When I first moved over here I used to go to the Market in town and buy cheese ends/crumbles.
The guy at the cheese stall used to sell them by the bag full. They were really cheap and great for things like this, or mac and cheese. You never really knew what kind of cheese they were, but they always tasted fab.
So anyways, you just bang these into a moderate oven and bake them until the cheese is all melted and they are heated through . . .
Take them out of the oven and drizzle them with a bit more BBQ sauce. (I used Jack Daniels because that is what I had, just use your favourite kind.)
Scatter on some spring onions and serve . . . oh boy, these are really yummy nummy! You could serve a salad, or coleslaw on the side. Coleslaw is actually excellent with these. You can find my recipe for Creamy Coleslaw here.
Yield: 4
BBQ Chicken Tostadas
prep time: cook time: total time:
I hate to say it again, but these are quick, easy and yes, delicious. A great way to use up some leftover cooked chicken or part of a Rotisserie bird!
ingredients:
- 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
- a bit of oil
- 375g cooked chicken shredded (3 cups)
- 370g your favourite BBQ sauce (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 tsp chipotle Chili paste
- 245g grated medium cheddar or Jack cheese (2 cups)
- 3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
instructions:
- First you want to crisp up your tortillas. Brush each tortilla lightly with some olive oil and then toast them over an open flame for about 30 seconds per side until crisp and lightly charred. Alternatively you can pop them into a hot oven (220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7) for 5 minutes, flip and bake for 5 more minutes until crisp.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready several baking sheets. Lay your tortillas out in a single layer on the baking sheets.
- Shred the chicken into a bowl. Stir in 245g (1 cup) of the BBQ sauce and the Chipotle chili paste. Mix well together and then divide it between the toasted tortillas evenly. I like to keep it a bit rough so you get lots of crags and crannies.
- Divide the cheese evenly amongst the chicken topped tortillas. scattering it over the top of each. (A small handful or about 30g/ 1/4 cup)
- Bake in the heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven. Drizzle the remaining BBQ sauce over top and sprinkle with the spring onions to serve.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Oh boy, but these went down a real treat! I think we have found a whole new favourite thing around here! Nom Nom Nom!
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