Chicken in Tomato Chipotle Sauce
April 02, 2008
It has been two months since I’ve blogged – terrible neglect, I know. In light of this, I am going to give you a random recipe I’ve cooked a few times over the last two months that actually involves chicken – the bird I rarely eat. I loved this dish so much I made it again and again. If you dislike chicken because of its plain nature, I suggest you try cooking it with this fabulous chipotle sauce. I also know that you can substitute carrots and potatoes for the chicken to serve a vegetarian version of this dish. The entire meal is below, with cooking instructions and alternative “quickies” for folks with less time on their hands to prepare the full meal.
Chicken in Chipotle Sauce with Beans, Papas, and Corn Tortillas
For the sauce:
1 tomato
4 pieces of garlic, with the skin on
1 tbsp Mexican Oregano
4 chipotle chiles (you can buy this in a can)
¼ white or yellow onion, quickly sautéed in hot vegetable oil
1 c water
Step One: Place tomato and garlic pieces on a cookie sheet and broil. You want the tomato skin to blister (it will look slightly burnt), and the garlic skin to turn brown. Oven times vary.
Step Two: Remove the skin of the tomato and garlic. Place tomato, garlic, oregano, chipotle peppers, sautéed onion, and water in a blender and puree. Set aside.
You can freeze this mixture to serve it later when you are crunched for time.
For the Chicken:
2 chicken breasts, not frozen! (you can leave the bone in or out)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil over medium heat until hot. Add chicken, salt and pepper, and cook until chicken browns slightly (about 7-10 minutes). Add the sauce, cover pan and let simmer for 20 minutes. The simmering sauce finishes the cooking process and will result in a tender chicken.
The side dishes:
Pinto Beans
Step One: clean 1 cup of pinto beans (i.e., pick out the rocks and rinse the beans under water). Soak the beans overnight or while you are away at work all day in a large bowl. The water should cover the beans by 2 inches.
Step Two: Drain the beans and add them to a large pot. Add 4 cups of water and cook on high for 1 ½ - 2 hours or until beans are tender. Keep adding liquid if too much evaporates. The liquid should be light brown.
Step Three: When beans are tender, add 1 tbsp salt, and 3 tbsp of olive or vegetable oil and slightly mash the beans. Cook for another 15 minutes before eating. I like to serve the beans more like a soup, but you can always drain the liquid and mash the beans in a frying pan with the 3 tbsp of olive or vegetable oil for frijoles refritos. You should be advised that adding salt before the beans finish cooking prolongs cooking time.
Roasted Papas (potatoes)
Rinse 3 medium potatoes of any variety, and cut into smaller pieces. Toss in 4 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven on a cookie sheet at 400F for 25 minutes or until toasty brown. Serve hot!
Corn Tortillas
Contrary to popular belief, your tortillas should not be placed in the microwave. Rather, treat your tortilla with some dignity and place it on a comal or heat it in a sauté pan over medium heat, carefully turning the tortilla until each side is warmed and begins to slightly toast. Place in a clean towel to keep warm.
If you are cooking beans, you can make them from scratch, or heat up some canned beans on the stove with some vegetable fat (so you don’t get too much gas!). If making them from scratch, follow the recipe above.
Lastly, if you want an all vegetarian version of this dish, swap carrots for chicken, but do not add the potatoes yet. They will turn mushy. Roast the potatoes as indicated above, and ladle the sauce and carrots over them.
¡Buen provecho!
Chicken in Chipotle Sauce with Beans, Papas, and Corn Tortillas
For the sauce:
1 tomato
4 pieces of garlic, with the skin on
1 tbsp Mexican Oregano
4 chipotle chiles (you can buy this in a can)
¼ white or yellow onion, quickly sautéed in hot vegetable oil
1 c water
Step One: Place tomato and garlic pieces on a cookie sheet and broil. You want the tomato skin to blister (it will look slightly burnt), and the garlic skin to turn brown. Oven times vary.
Step Two: Remove the skin of the tomato and garlic. Place tomato, garlic, oregano, chipotle peppers, sautéed onion, and water in a blender and puree. Set aside.
You can freeze this mixture to serve it later when you are crunched for time.
For the Chicken:
2 chicken breasts, not frozen! (you can leave the bone in or out)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil over medium heat until hot. Add chicken, salt and pepper, and cook until chicken browns slightly (about 7-10 minutes). Add the sauce, cover pan and let simmer for 20 minutes. The simmering sauce finishes the cooking process and will result in a tender chicken.
The side dishes:
Pinto Beans
Step One: clean 1 cup of pinto beans (i.e., pick out the rocks and rinse the beans under water). Soak the beans overnight or while you are away at work all day in a large bowl. The water should cover the beans by 2 inches.
Step Two: Drain the beans and add them to a large pot. Add 4 cups of water and cook on high for 1 ½ - 2 hours or until beans are tender. Keep adding liquid if too much evaporates. The liquid should be light brown.
Step Three: When beans are tender, add 1 tbsp salt, and 3 tbsp of olive or vegetable oil and slightly mash the beans. Cook for another 15 minutes before eating. I like to serve the beans more like a soup, but you can always drain the liquid and mash the beans in a frying pan with the 3 tbsp of olive or vegetable oil for frijoles refritos. You should be advised that adding salt before the beans finish cooking prolongs cooking time.
Roasted Papas (potatoes)
Rinse 3 medium potatoes of any variety, and cut into smaller pieces. Toss in 4 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven on a cookie sheet at 400F for 25 minutes or until toasty brown. Serve hot!
Corn Tortillas
Contrary to popular belief, your tortillas should not be placed in the microwave. Rather, treat your tortilla with some dignity and place it on a comal or heat it in a sauté pan over medium heat, carefully turning the tortilla until each side is warmed and begins to slightly toast. Place in a clean towel to keep warm.
If you are cooking beans, you can make them from scratch, or heat up some canned beans on the stove with some vegetable fat (so you don’t get too much gas!). If making them from scratch, follow the recipe above.
Lastly, if you want an all vegetarian version of this dish, swap carrots for chicken, but do not add the potatoes yet. They will turn mushy. Roast the potatoes as indicated above, and ladle the sauce and carrots over them.
¡Buen provecho!
Labels: chicken, chili, pinto beans, tomatoes
Vegetarian Chile Over Rice
February 24, 2006
Beans are a major source of protein, iron, B vitamins, folic acid, and starch. For vegetarians, this plant is perhaps the most important part of a healthy diet. This dish uses a lot of beans and is a fast meal when you are in a hurry. This chile has a very different flavor from the black bean soup recipe (post 12/20/05), but if you like black beans, I suggest that recipe specifically because the flavors posted there marry well for that particular bean.
You will need: 1/2 of a bell pepper diced; 1/4 white onion, diced; 4 cloves crushed garlic; either fresh red chile (that you make and have frozen, see blog from 1/18/06) or powdered, use 2 tbsp of powdered chile or 1/2 cup of fresh chile; 1/2 tsp of cumin; 2 regular sized cans of beans, I like to use a can of pinto and a can of mixed beans that includes kidney, black, and pinto beans; 1 c of vegetable stock; a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes; brown rice.
Step One: Cook 2 cups of brown rice either in a rice cooker or pot according to directions. Start the rice before starting the soup.
Step Two: In a large pot, saute onions, garlic, and bell pepper in 3 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium heat until translucent. Add the 2 cans of beans with their liquid, and 2 more tablespoons of vegetable oil. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stir often.
Step Three: Add spices, salt to taste, chile, vegetable stock, and tomatoes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Step Four: Serve chile over rice and a side of quesadillas. I make my quesadillas with either corn (for gluten free eating) or flour tortillas and jack cheese (chedder isn't quite as flavorful). Salt to taste.
Labels: pinto beans, red chile, rice, soup, tomatoes
If You Can't Go To El Patio, Bring El Patio To Yourself
December 15, 2005
I know - you all feel abandoned - but really, it is not my fault. The digital camera I've been using is not giving me my pictures - so many bids for forgiveness. I will try to catch up now that my roomate is back and can hopefully fix the camera bug.
Well, I love and miss enchiladas--especially my mom's. I promised her, however, that I would not divulge her green and red chile recipes on my blog because every Mexican knows better than to post their chile recipes for all to see: otherwise, you have some half-assed jerk publishing it in his food network cookbook and making money off such a simple thing as chile, onions, garlic and spices with water. Chile is not so much about measurements, rather it is about the cooking procedure and method--about roasting your chile right, not overcooking the onions and garlic, and reducing the caldo (broth) so it thickens without burning or overcooking the chile.
For you non-chile officianados, red chile is basically the ripened form of green chile. Red is often dried, hung to dry on a ristra or ground into a powder. Green is roasted and peeled. To eat it year-round, you have to buy it in August-September, roast it, freeze or can it, and then use it at the time of cooking. Chile is a labor of love and my favorite place to eat it is at El Patio restaurant in Albuquerque, NM (home of all chile, red or green, and if you order both, it's called Christmas). To my delight, El Patio started canning its chile and selling it at the restaurant. I purchased the red and green to make enchiladas al estilo Nuevo Mexico. Unlike traditional Mexican enchiladas, the NM kind are flat and not rolled. The layers usually consist of hamburger and potatoes, but for this recipe, I used chicken and beans. The vegetarian plate featured in the photo is of course spinach and beans.
You will need:
- one 12 pack of corn tortillas,
- 2 cans of El Patio red and green chile (you can always purchase 505 brand of canned green chile at Safeway or Smith's),
- a crock pot of fresh beans (frijole de bolita was used here), or 2 cans of pinto beans that are cooked with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pot over medium-high heat for 10 minutes
- diced onion,
- spinach (fresh baby spinach), lettuce, cheese (always use Monterey Jack),
- shredded chicken (2 chicken breasts whole with bones, boiled in a pot over high heat for 12-16 minutes, then shredded with a fork),
- 1/2 c of oil to fry tortillas (replenish as necessary).
Step One: in a small egg pan, heat up your oil over medium heat.
Step Two: on a plate, serve a scoop of beans, quickly fry the tort on each side for about 45 seconds, and place on top of beans. Add more beans or chicken, spinach, cheese, onions and scoop of chile.
Step Three: Repeat step two. Top off with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Serve with a side of beans.
It's like El Patio in my kitchen! For those of you in ABQ, break me off a little next time you are on Harvard drive and jonzen for chile.
For you "heartburn" types and people who ask "is the chile hot?" - don’t bother.
Labels: corn tortillas, New Mexico, pinto beans, red chile
