Shh, I want to share a secret with you. This dinner is so easy you can teach the kids to do it and get a free night! They are going to love it and it impresses guests. Then again, you may want to keep this as our secret, then you can continue to be the rock star after spending roughly 15 minutes in the kitchen!
Last week we had a friend over for dinner when I asked if there was anything special they favored and they said Mexican, I nearly fell of my chair with glee. I’m in Florida by way of California. I LOVE Mexican food. What’s not to love, amazing flavors, hearty food. YUM.
This time, I made the Chilaquiles with red sauce, it’s also amazing with green sauce. This is typical Mexican style family food, simple, great flavors and people will come back for more. Best of all, it’s cheap!
Chilaquiles recipes have been around since the late 1800′s, the name of the dish has been translated roughly as broken sombrero. It’s often served as breakfast with scrambled eggs (which is what we did with the leftovers mmmmm) and considered by many to be a hangover cure. There are regional variations that are based on green (tomatillo) salsa, red salsa or even a white sauce. So anyway you want to change up this recipe — it’s all yours.
Recipe:
2 links uncooked chorizo casing removed
1/2 white onion (you can also use red)
4 cups shredded cheese (go for the cheddar/Monterrey jack blend)
4 cups red enchilada sauce (best if you make it, but fine to buy a jar of sauce — if you buy the sauce and chips this is a 10 minute meal)
24 corn tortillas cut into wedges and fried
1 1/2 pounds skinless chicken thighs, on the bone.
Black olives for garnish
Green onions sliced for garnish
Sour cream for garnish
Day ahead or earlier in the morning, bake the chicken and allow it to cool. shred it into a bowl and set aside until you are ready to assemble the Chilaquiles.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Break up chorizo and place in a medium skillet to render the fat out. Set aside and drain, saute the onions in the chorizo fat (or if you wish vegetable oil, but I hate to waste the chorizo flavor)
put a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of the pan and pat them down, add half of the shredded chicken, sprinkle half the chorizo, 2 cups sauce and 2 cups shredded cheese.
Repeat with another layer of chips, chorizo, chicken, sauce and cheese. Top with black olives and bake until bubbly — about 30 minutes. Everything in the casserole is already cooked so much like the Shepherds pie recipe you are just heating it through.
Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes to cool and allow the sauce to absorb into the casserole.
Serve with sliced green onion, sour cream and if you want cilantro. This dish is often accompanied by refried beans, we had it with a salad and were more than satisfied. It was one of those nights when everyone at way too much!
I’d like to give you a wine recommendation to go with this meal, but I think it’s best accompanied by a very crisp, very cold beer, Stella Artois is my choice.
Let me know if this recipe works for you!
Until next time, remember, don’t whine, wine!
Fondly,
The Whineaux
