Friday, May 8, 2009

A little late for Cinco de Mayo but good anytime…

I hate when real life gets in the way of my food blog, but sadly it has. I had my youngest home with me and then I ended up sick. Not the really bad sick but enough to knock me on my keester for a day or so. Anyway this post is sadly long overdue but too good not to post!
Pasta Azteca Flickr

Pastel Azteca

A couple of weeks ago I was searching for a recipe to take to our groups regular monthly pot luck. This months theme was Mexican, Spanish or Latino. Easy enough huh? I just didn’t want to do any of the common things like tacos or enchiladas. I was going to do tamales but that looks like a ton of work. I then remembered my friend Ben at What's Cooking giving me a lead on one of his favorite recipes!!! After looking it over I decided that this one would be perfect and was exactly what I was looking for!!!

Thanks Ben for a delicious recipe and one that was a real hit! The only thing I would do differently next time is to make more sauce. The sauce was delicious!!!

Chicken Pastel Azteca (from Ben @ What’s Cooking?)
8-10 servings

The ingredients:

  • 1 chicken breast shredded (I used 2 cooked breasts)
  • 1 lb tomatoes
  • 1 medium size onion
  • 3 garlic cloves peeled
  • 1-2 chipotle adobado peppers
  • 16 ounces tortilla chips, you can either make your own by cutting in quarters approximately 24 corn tortillas and frying them or baking them or buy them made at the store
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 8 oz. Chihuahua cheese shredded 2 cups approx. or shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 red onion sliced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

The how-to:

  1. Blend together tomatoes, onion, garlic and adobado peppers using one cup of chicken broth. (I cooked the onions and the garlic first then blended this in my food processor)
  2. Pour the sauce into a sauce pan and add the rest of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, season to taste and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  4. Place a layer of tortilla chips at the bottom of a 9”x13” baking dish using 1/2 of the tortillas.
  5. Add a second layer of shredded chicken, half of the shredded cheese and half of the red onion slices.
  6. Pour some of the tomato sauce into the pan.
  7. Add a final layer of tortilla chips and cheese and pour the rest of the sauce.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, let it rest for 10 minutes before serving and garnish with sour cream, red onion and chopped parsley.

Too late for Cinco de Mayo but still a really good meal. This would be a quick and easy week night meal and I can’t wait to make it again!!!

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

12 comments:

Dianne said...

This looks amazing!

RecipeGirl said...

Yum Yum.. another good one for the family-favorite files! What the heck is Chihuahua cheese??

Bob said...

Heh, I want to know what Chihuahua cheese is too, but mostly so I can get some and make this. It sounds amazing!

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Lori and Bob! Ben said it is a soft melting cheese. You could use Oaxaca, which seems to be like a Mexican mozzarella. I ran out of time so I used regular shredded mozz and it turned out great!!

Thistlemoon said...

Now, you know, I have to get me some Chihuahua cheese! Chihuahua is a desert area in Mexico - so I assume it is a cheese from that area.

This looks awesome! I am glad you are feeling better and I bet this was a perfect potluck dinner! I may have to try it sometime!

Patsyk said...

Glad someone else asked what Chihuahua cheese was! Hope you are on the mend! This dish looks fantastic!

Deeba PAB said...

Just looks so good Judy..GREAT stuff that went in. WONDERFUL!!Of course I'm envious... no Chihuahua cheese here. Sigh!

Maris said...

Chihuahua cheese sounds like something that I MUST get next time I'm at the grocery store!

Bren said...

Ben does have some great authentic recipes! I'm glad this one worked for you. I have a few of his bookmarked to make as well since I don't like eating Mexican food at restaurants.. just not the same!

Spryte said...

Yum! That looks so good!

Peter M said...

Some of the ingredients here are new to me but the result is fab, no doubt!

kellypea said...

Oh Jeez this sounds like something we'd love, but no surprise since it's one of Ben's recipes. Making me hungry right now!