Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a really easy and delicious recipe! It can either be slow cooked if you want to make it in the morning or on the stove for a fast dinner and is good served with tortillas. Enjoy! :)

1 onion chopped
3 garlic, minced
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. chili powder (cayenne powder can also be used for more spice)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 can (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
10.5 oz. of condensed chicken broth (extra water can also replace this)
1 1/4 cups water
1 can of corn or 1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup white hominy
green chile peppers
1 can black beans rinsed and drained (garbanzo beans are also good to add)
chicken cooked and cut
chopped green onions
crushed tortilla chips
sliced avocado
shredded monterey jack cheese


Heat oil over medium heat in a pot and saute onion and garlic until soft.  Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water.  Bring to a boil, simmer for 5-10 min.

Stir in remaining ingredients (except leave crushed tortilla chips, sliced avocado, and cheese for serving on top of soup). 

Chilaquile Casserole

Alexis officially gets credit for exposing me to chilaquiles from her post here on RFL, but the first time I actually ate them was at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville (across from PIXAR). They are delicious and I crave them all the time. So I was pretty ecstatic when I found a recipe for a casserole version in one of Mollie Katzen's books - Still Life With Menu. It's super simple and easy to improvise on. Don't be afraid of the casserole, either. I've nostalgically come to love them in the last year, even though I hated them as a kid. So throw on an apron and whip this tasty dinner/breakfast/lunch/midnight snack up!

What's in it

12 corn tortillas

2 4oz cans chopped green chiles

3 C grated jack cheese

salt and pepper

4 eggs

2 C buttermilk

Optional additions

1-2 C pinto beans

1-2 C corn

1/2 lb firm tofu, cut in thin slices

1 C chopped and sauted onion

1 small zucchini cubed and sauted

How it's made

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter a 9x13-inch pan.

Tear 6 tortillas into bite sized pieces and layer on the bottom of the pan. Distribute half the chiles and half the cheese on top (and any additional ingredients).

Tear the rest of the tortillas and sprinkle on top, then follow with the remaining cheese and chiles, etc.

Beat the eggs and buttermilk with the salt and pepper and pour on top of the casserole.

Bake for 35 minutes uncovered. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Flour Tortillas

After making the Chili posted the other day we had a lot of leftovers. I decided to turn it into a burrito filling with fresh made tortillas. They took a little bit of time, but it was easy and worth it!

Flour Tortillas:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup warm water

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shortening and work in with your hands or a pastry cutter. Add a little water at a time until you can form a soft dough that is not too sticky. Kneed for a few solid turns until everything is incorporated and smooth.

Cut dough into 12 or more little balls and set on a pan to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Roll each ball of dough into desired shape of tortilla, making sure they are very thin.

Cook on a hot pan long enough to lightly brown but not burn, flipping once. If the pan is too hot they will burn before they cook through.

As they come off the pan place them in a clean kitchen towel to keep them from drying out.

I made them on a griddle so I could cook 3 at a time. This worked but I think a pan would have been a little hotter. They got a little dry, but they were still AWESOME!

Enchiladas Suizas (Verdes)

Living in Mexico, this was easily one of my top five dishes to order, and as far as I'm concerned, enchiladas suizas are without a doubt the best enchiladas out there. Creamy, cheesy chicken and green chile sauce? Yes, please. And just so you know, it would be nearly sacrilegious to make enchiladas with flour tortillas. (In fact, corn is always best, in my not-so-humble opinion.)

This recipe is a variation on one I found about five years ago in the San Francisco Chronicle Food Section. The woman who wrote it got the recipe from the family running the bed and breakfast where she stayed. The original version calls for making the salsa verde from scratch, but I didn't want to spend all day on this and just used canned green enchilada sauce. Some brands are better than others, and while I've yet to do a brand by brand taste test, I know that El Pato, Las Palmas and La Victoria are decent.

(If you are wondering, the word suiza, surprisingly enough, means Swiss. Apparently Swiss immigrants in Mexico often ended up making cheeses and other dairy products, like the crema Mexicana in this dish.)

The Chicken

• 2 chicken breasts (It called for bone and skin, but we used boneless/skinless.)
• 1/4 of a white onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 quart chicken broth

1. Rinse chicken and put in a 4 quart pot with the onion quarter and garlic. Add broth. If the chicken is not completely covered, add water until covered. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and let chicken cool in broth for 20 minutes. Remove chicken from broth and when cool, shred it.
   
3. Save the broth for use in any recipe calling for chicken broth. (We used it to make tortilla soup.)

The Enchiladas

• 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 10 large corn tortillas
• 4 cups (or more) green chile enchilada sauce (spicy, if you like!)
• Shredded chicken from above
  
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion (optional)
  
• 3 cups grated manchego or Monterey Jack Cheese (We used cheddar and it was fine.)
• 3/4 cup crema Mexicana (We had to substitute sour cream; it's definitely not as good as the real stuff.)

1. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in a wide skillet and fry the tortillas (1-2 at a time) to soften them, turning once--about 20 seconds on each side. Stack them as you finish. Add more oil to the pan as needed.
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
   
3. Use 1 teaspoon oil (I used a spray instead) to coat a 12x9 inch (or so) baking dish. Spread 1 cup of green sauce over the bottom of the dish.
4. Moisten the shredded chicken with 3/4 cup of the green sauce.
5. For each enchilada, spoon some of the chicken, some chopped onions and some shredded cheese down the middle of a tortilla. Roll it up and place seam side down in the dish.
6. When all of the enchiladas are in the dish, spread 1 tablespoon of crema over each one. Pour 2 cups (or more as desired) of the green sauce over the enchiladas, then sprinke more grated cheese all over the top.
   
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until heated through and bubbly. Pass the remaining salsa verde at the table.