Chicken & Sweet Potato Layered Tortilla

I love getting inspiration from other food bloggers... I get an idea, then poof, I run with it! Today’s inspiration comes from Sher at What Did You Eat?, and her stacked enchilada. By the way, Sher, I thought your enchilada looked great!

We had roasted another chicken the other day, and with that we had some mashed sweet potatoes (mashed with Promise, some light cream cheese and a splash of milk). These lovely leftover containers were beckoning to me from inside the fridge and so I decided to get cooking!

I thinly sliced a small onion and started it sweating in a pan in some olive oil. While that was going, I shredded up some chicken, about 2 cups, and set aside. I then thawed 1.5 cups frozen spinach and ½ cup frozen bell peppers. Once thawed, I added that to the onions and also threw in some salt, chili powder, cumin and Mexican oregano. I just let that warm through and then took off the heat.

Time to assemble the layers! First down is a 10” whole wheat tortilla, then I slathered it with the leftover sweet potatoes which I topped with the spices from above. Then comes the shredded chicken!! Top that with another tortilla and spread the spinach mixture on it and top with 1 diced tomato, some cilantro and shredded cheese and place the last tortilla on top. I started this off in a dry pan on medium low heat with the cover on, but that wasn’t having the desired effect, so I transferred it to a 400 degree oven sans lid for 10 minutes. This fed the 2 of us with enough for lunch leftovers! We served this up with some sliced jalapenos and a dollop of sour cream…the sweet potato gave us the impression that there were refried beans inside... what a great way to use up your leftovers!!!

Chicken Tagine

While searching for a good new one-pot/two-night dish on Epicurious.com, I came across Chicken Tagine. Wikipedia then informed me that a Moroccan Tagine (or Tajine) is the name for clay pot that the dish known as "tagine" is traditionally cooked in - as well as the dish, itself. Although we are lacking the clay pot, hopefully we can replicate the Tagine as best as possible with what we got!

I started out by coating bone-in chicken thighs, wings and drummies with hot curry powder and browning them in a hot oiled pan, after which I removed them and set them aside. I then added a large onion (thinly sliced), and cooked that on medium low for 5 minutes, at which time I added about 6 cloves of minced garlic and about a tbsp of minced ginger. After cooking that for 5 minutes more, I added in my spice mix (1 ½ tbsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp ground coriander, ½ tsp cumin, ½ tsp cayenne and 1/8 tsp cinnamon.) In goes a little more than 2 cups of water, 2 15oz cans of rinsed chickpeas, ¾ cup canned diced tomatoes and their juices, 1 couple tbsp chopped cilantro stems(!), 2 tbsp lemon juice and some very thin slices of lemon. Bring that up to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.



At this point, I returned the chicken to the pot for 20 minutes. In another pan I put 1 ½ cups of water, ½ cup chopped dried apricots and some cinnamon…bring to a boil and keep on simmering until liquid becomes glaze-like. After 20 minutes, add the apricot mixture, 2 cups of frozen peas and about 1 cup frozen carrots to the tagine. Also, add some salt to your liking and some ground pepper. Let all the flavors meld for another 5-10 minutes et voila! Garnish with some freshly chopped mint and you have a winner!

The only thing I would omit the next time would be the slices of lemon…although I had sliced them very thin, I still got a little bitterness from the rind. Just add more lemon juice instead!

Braised Beef Brisket with Root Vegetables

You know how much we like to braise – this time we put our dutch oven actually IN the oven to cook a lovely 3lb flat cut beef brisket. Although we would have preferred a point cut, alas the butcher had none so we went flat.

After giving the brisket a good rub down of flour, salt, and mignonette pepper, we seared each side in a pan with some olive oil. After browning, we removed it from the pan and began sweating 2 thinly sliced onions. After 5 minutes, we tossed in about 8 cloves of garlic (minced), and cooked for 5 minutes more. Then, we pour in a couple cups of cabernet while scraping up the lovely goodness on the bottom of the pan. Tossed in ¼ cup tomato paste, several sprigs of fresh thyme and 2 turkish bay leaves and brought this wonderfully-smelling concoction to a boil.



We cooked that until it was reduced by half, then added about 6 cups of beef stock and brought it back to a boil - then finally we nestled the browned brisket back into the pot. We covered pot with a piece of foil and then put the cover on top to seal it tightly. Placed the pot in the lower third of the oven at 325 degrees for about 2.5 hours.

We served ours up with some rutabaga, celery and carrots along with some of the delicious broth that the brisket was braising in. How could this once-tough piece of meat come out so tender you ask?? Braising. Yup, unbelievable what this technique can do for even the tough guys. Tender and delicious!

Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa

We made a pilgrimage to Penzey's in Arlington, Mass on Saturday - to stock up on some spices and get a feel for what the whole store would be like beyond the catalog. We certainly had a good time smelling all the spices and mixes - they have glass jars with samples of each so you can experience the aroma (warning: avoid deeply inhaling the powdered jalapeno!), although we also had our nit-picks with the store and it's location, etc. Mr. Penzey, if you read this, call us up for some advice on how to improve your business here in Boston!

We stocked up on a few necessities: cumin, fennel, tarragon, sage, chili powder, and others. We also picked up a bag of chipotle peppers - totalling about 10 of the smoked, dried jalapenos. So we naturally decided to make chipotle salsa!

We decided to try for the "real" stuff - no chunky, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salsa... we wanted authentic chipotle salsa. So we picked up some tomatillos to make our salsa with - like little tomatoes with a husk, you char the outside to get to their tart, lemony flavor. Along with some limes, garlic, and salt - we'll bolster the volume with just a few spoonfuls of canned/stewed tomatoes - and that's it.

So first we had to rehydrate the chipotles by boiling three of them in water for 20 minutes. By the end of that time, the dry, shriveled peppers had re-grown to full jalapeno size and shape. We let those dry and then sliced them open to remove all the seeds and any water left inside.

Next, we husked the tomatillos and then charred each of them over the stove burner using tongs until the outer skin is just barely starting to blacken. You can feel the water inside the tomatillos starting to boil as they heat up on the hot flame!



Peel a couple of garlic cloves and cut two limes in half and we're ready to go! Into our little food processor: the three split chipotles, the eight charred tomatillos, two cloves of garlic, the juice from one lime, and a healthy pinch of salt. Chop, chop, chop... Blend, blend, blend... it almost instantly became a watery consistancy. A little taste tells us that it is SPICY and smokey, and that we need more lime, more salt - and to fill it out with some of the stewed tomatoes.

So we added a few big spoonfuls of the tomatoes and more lime and salt and chopped it up some more. Then it was into a container and into the fridge for a good sit.

An hour later, we gathered some tortilla chips and we were finally ready to taste the result - so smokey and spicy and delicious! It tasted like the salsa from one of our favorite authentic Mexican restaurants - Salsa's in South Boston. Stacey believed it was a little TOO spicy for public consumption - but just right for us. This stuff was ADDICTIVE, we had to physically remove it from the table after a while because we couldn't stop eating it! A cold beer helped wash it down and quenched our burning lips. Awesome stuff!