Mexican Chilaquiles
The best brunch food ever
Serves 4-6
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Spice rating: mild
5 large or 10 small green tomatoes
5 serrano chilis, or ancho if you like spicy
1 Tbsp oil
2 large chicken breasts, sliced horizonally into 6 or more 1/4th inch thin planks
(substitute beef or fried egg for chicken as you wish)
1/4 cup + 2 cups water
1 large chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp Better than Bouillon
half of a large bag of tortilla chips
1/2 tsp salt
half of a large bag of tortilla chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
extras (good luck finding these, and don't worry if you don't!)
queso panela
1 stem fresh epazote
Blend chilis, tomatoes, and 1/4 cup water in a blender until smooth. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large soup pot. Once the pan is hot, add blended chili-tomato mixture, bouillion, salt, 2 cups water, and epazote stem if you have it. Simmer for ten minutes or so until the color of the liquid changes from spring green to muted green and loses its raw flavor. Shave chicken breast planks while this is cooking. See "see how to do it" at right for pics on how to do this. Get a large saute pan really hot, wipe a little oil on so the chicken doesn't stick and lay out thin chicken planks without touching each other in the pan. Sprinkle each with salt. Flip when the underside is golden brown. When chilaquiles sauce is muted green, pour a mountain of tortilla chips (towering just over the liquid) into the pot and let sit -- no stirring! Let this sit for three minutes. Then serve a large spoonful on each plate with a plank of golden chicken and a dollop of sour cream. Restaurants serve crumbled queso panelo on top, but she says at home people don't use cheese.
Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2012
