Mexican

Cornmeal Crusted Baked Green Chile and Jalapeno Jack Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Sometimes I see recipes on Pinterest that look amazing, and I pin them, but with no real intention of ever actually making them.  But this one I found, pinned and made in the same day.  It was pretty wonderful and easily adapts to what you have, what you like and what you need.  The original recipe, found here at Lady Behind the Curtain, makes 6 servings.  I made 3 servings, enough for a couple for dinner and leftovers for me for lunch the next 2 days.  You can easily make this meal to serve 1 or a dozen.  And whoever you serve will be pleased.

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I hate taking pictures of food in my kitchen when it’s already dark out.  I’ve probably lamented about this before, but it really is discouraging.  Natural light is a photographer’s best friend, especially when food is involved.  I’m not a photographer, by the way.  I’d imagine a real photographer would’ve made this look less…strange…and much more appetizing.  But please believe me when I tell you that this is a really tasty and satisfying meal, despite my not so amazing photograph.

Pounded chicken breasts are wrapped around jalapeno jack cheese, green chile and cilantro, dredged in seasoned corn meal and baked, topped with more cheese, then drizzled (or drenched if that’s more your style) in enchilada sauce, and if you’re feeling fancy, sprinkled with some crumbled queso fresco and chopped cilantro.  The chicken turns out moist, the green chile and cheese in the center is really delicious and the corn meal crust is crunchy and delicious.  I used this taco seasoning recipe from Alton Brown.  It will likely become the only taco seasoning I use from now on.  Not because I dislike packaged seasoning and all the unknowns it carries, but because it is just really good.  More flavor from spices and less from the salt when you make it yourself I think.  I highly recommend giving it a try.  You likely have all the ingredients in your pantry.  Here is the link.

If you’ve already gone over to the original recipe and looked at the ingredients you might notice that I’m using more cheese, but making half the amount of food.  It’s not a mistake.  I like cheese and using half an ounce of cheese in one chicken breast made me sad.  I want to cut into the chicken and have melting cheese ooze out.  That is not going to happen with such a small amount of cheese.  Although a smaller amount of cheese is definitely the healthier way to go!  Go ahead and be smart and portion conscious if you want to be, but you might regret it just a little.  I made the original amount of cornmeal crust because I am of the mind that it’s better to have more than you need than not enough.  I did have some left over, but the chicken breasts I had were large and I’m glad I didn’t cut the amount in half, I wouldn’t have had enough.

To change this to suit your taste use a different type of cheese, whatever you like or have, white cheddar, colby jack, etc. You could also use a different type of enchilada sauce, green, mild, hot, etc.  And again, this is easily adapted to suit the number of people you need to serve.  Eat up and enjoy!

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Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with Green Chiles and Jalapeno Jack Cheese

Ingredients

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 3 ounces of jalapeno jack cheese, cut into 1 ounce slices + 1-2 extra ounces shredded cheese for topping
  • 2 whole green chiles, sliced in half lengthwise (I used whole canned green chiles and froze what I did not use in a zip top bag.)
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (again, this one is amazing!)
  • 1/3 cup cornmeal
  • 1 egg
  • red enchilada sauce (store bought or homemade)
  • crumbled queso fresco (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F
  2. Whisk egg in a wide shallow bowl, set aside.
  3. Whisk cornmeal and taco seasoning together in a wide shallow bowl, set aside.
  4. Pound each chicken breast to 1/8 inch thickness (pound between layers of plastic wrap or wax paper) and lay each out on your work surface.
  5. Lay one slice of green chile in the center of each chicken breast.  (You’ll have a slice leftover if you’re making 3, so either add it to one of the breasts, or cut it into 3 pieces and add one to each breast.)
  6. Place a slice of cheese on top of the chile, followed by a sprinkle of cilantro.
  7. Roll up the chicken.  Dip into the egg to coat, then into the cornmeal to coat.  Place into the baking dish, seam side down.
  8. Repeat with all of the chicken breasts, then bake for 25-30 minutes.  During the last 5 minutes of cooking, sprinkle with the extra shredded cheese.
  9. Warm the enchilada sauce in a small saucepan.  Drizzle sauce over the chicken after is comes out of the oven and sprinkle with more cilantro and queso fresco if desired.

 

Chocoflan Cake

My mom sent this recipe to me.  I discovered in talking with her today that the reason she sent it to me is because she was too scared to try it out herself.  I have become the recipe guinea pig, and I am totally OK with that.

There’s always a little bit of uncertainty when trying a new recipe and it helps to know that someone else has tried it with good results.  It really helps to know that someone you know and trust has tried it.  I am often skeptical of some online reviews because I don’t know if the people writing the reviews are clueless in the kitchen and totally botched a perfectly good recipe, OR if the person likes anything they eat because they lack good taste and taste buds.  So, send me your iffy recipes and I will try them and give you my honest opinion…if that means anything.

This cake is half chocolate cake and half flan.  Well, more like 60% chocolate cake and 40% flan.  Regardless, chocolate cake + flan = crazy delicious.  A bundt pan is filled with a thin layer of cajeta, topped with a chocolate cake batter and finished off with a flan type mixture that makes it way down to the bottom of the pan during the baking process.  This creates the layer of creamy flan on top of the cake which when inverted is topped with the sweet and decadent cajeta.

I topped the finished cake with toasted pecans.  It could be served with some sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  This cake was a hit at the small group we had at our house last night.  It was such a hit that we had a mere slice left over. (more…)

Pork Tamales with Chile Sauce

To everyone who doubted me and said encouraging things like “You know tamales are really hard, right?” I have one thing to say…I made tamales and they were spectacular!

Happy New Year!  To bring in 2010 we had a tamale party on New Year’s Eve.  The holiday issue of Fine Cooking magazine had a section devoted to tamale making complete with step-by-step instructions and photos.  This is so helpful when attempting to make something for the first time that requires a certain method to achieve success.  I would have been a wreck without those pictures!  After a few completed tamales it was a breeze, and I feel like next time I will be even better at it.

In Mexico, tamales are traditionally served at Christmas or New Years, so this seemed like the perfect meal for the party.  I read through the recipe at least a dozen times in the 2 weeks before New Years to make sure I had everything I needed and wasn’t going to find myself in a position where it’s the day of the dinner and something has to sit overnight.  This has happened to me.  It is no fun.

I made the rather unwise decision to really talk the party and the tamales up to my friends.  Why did I do this?  I have never made tamales, and there would be no sweet old Mexican grandmother to assist me in my quest.  I had no good reason to tell everyone how good these tamales would be!  The nervousness began to set in as the day approached.  What if everything went wrong and we had to order pizza?  Pressure.

I was so thankful to have a few days of vacation left at home to prepare for tamale night.  I made the pork and the sauce for the tamales the day before, which made life so much easier when it came time to assemble these lovely corn husk packages of masa and tender pork.  Like little presents!  Trying to make these in one day is definitely possible.  You’d have to start pretty early and be prepared to wash a tremendous number of dishes.  The tamales would be served and you’d probably be exhausted, but one bite of these tamales and you would be so overwhelmed by the deliciousness in your mouth that you would forget all about the mess in your kitchen and the hours you spent in there!

The flavors and textures are terrific.  The masa is smooth, creamy and rich.  The pork is tender with just enough spice.  The chiles provide a nice smoky flavor to the sauce that is the perfect complement to the tamales.  Don’t be turned off the the long list of ingredients or amount of prep work.  These are so delicious.  So perfect.  So worth it.

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Crazy Delicious Creamed Corn

This was the side dish for last night’s dinner, but I could have eaten this as my meal and been very happy and satiated.  While contemplating dinner I had to consider a few things.  What did we have the last  few nights?  Thai curry and spaghetti casserole.  What kind of food is appropriate for the weather?  It’s cool, but not quite soup or chili weather yet.  How much time do I want to spend?  An hour tops.  Should I make something that is left-over friendly?  Yes!  Always yes.  After carefully considering all of these issues, I chose a Mexican style chipotle chicken and creamed corn.

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The chicken was delicious, and served double duty in chicken tacos the following night.  However, the creamed corn was the star of this meal in my opinion.  I used canned whole kernel corn instead of corn cut fresh from the cob because I am lazy.  It still turned out great.  The preparation and total cooking time are minimal.  Using canned instead of fresh corn makes it even quicker.  I really liked the combination of whole kernels and creamy corn puree.  The contrasting textures are wonderful.  This side probably serves 4-5, but is great re-heated and would easily double, so go ahead and make a double batch.  It is that good.

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