There are some recipes or food ideas you come across that stick with you, who knows why.  Chilaquiles is one of those ideas for me.  Over the years, I have come across recipes or food travel articles about Mexico or the Southwest that talk about this dish – one that uses leftover tortillas, sauce and meat.  My impression of chilaquiles came to be of a dish that Mexican housewives throw together in the days following a big cooking occasion, to use up the homemade tortillas that had gone stale, the intricately layered sauces and the remaining bits of perfectly roasted meat.  This idea appealed to me, and stuck in my mind as something I hoped to try someday.  Then it happened.  I came across chilaquiles on the menu of a local Mexican restaurant.  This particular place specialized in seafood, and offered shrimp as a chilaquiles option, with red sauce or green sauce.  I ordered green shrimp chilaquiles and absolutely devoured the dish, glad to finally have an understanding of what it was all about.  I ordered green chicken chilaquiles in New Mexico some time later, and that convinced me to try to re-create the dish at home.  First I considered frying freshly bought tortillas, carefully constructing a sauce with fresh tomatillos, roasted peppers and a raft of ingredients.  But it occurred to me that the whole point of chilaquiles is a great dish to throw together when you are not in the mood to spend hours in the kitchen.  So I went the other direction, using ingredients where most of the work had been done for me.  I find all these ingredients readily in the Hispanic food aisle of my local chain grocery. Chilaquiles are often served for a late breakfast, but I prefer them as a quick-to-throw-together dinner.

Green Chicken Chilaquiles

If you can’t find the canned tomatillos, use an equal weight of fresh, husked and cleaned.

For the sauce:

1 (12-ounce) can tomatillos, rinsed and drained

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon mild chili powder

½ teaspoon Mexican oregano (optional)

A big handful of cilantro leaves

Assembly:

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

9 – 10 tostadas

12 ounces queso fresco, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place all the ingredients for the sauce in the carafe of a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour about 1 cup of sauce over the bottom of a 9” by 13” casserole, spreading to cover the bottom of the dish.  Crush the tostadas in a ziptop bag to rough shards and place about a third over the sauce.  Add the chicken and half the queso fresco, then another third of the tostadas.  Pour over the remaining sauce, and then layer on the last of the tostadas and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake the chilaquiles for 15 – 20 minutes until warmed through, bubbling around the edges and the cheese is golden in places.  Serve immediately, with extra crushed tostada if desired.

Serves 6

I don’t do Halloween.  Of course, as a kid it was my favorite time of year, what with the candy and all.  I used to spend weeks thinking about my costume, and they were almost always homemade.  I was Darth Vadar one year in a navy blue blanket and German helmet a neighbor kid’s grandfather brought back from World War II.  One year I had chicken pox and my brother shared his candy with me.  It was probably another fifteen years before he did anything that sweet again.

But as an adult, I have given up on Halloween.  I am not good at the clever costumes.  Two failed attempts put me off the idea for good.  My neighborhood is a popular trick-or-treating area, but I lock the doors, turn off all the lights and retreat upstairs where I can’t be seen.  It is all feeding what I fear may be my growing reputation as the Crazy Old Miss Lady who lives down the street.

But I have tried to establish one Halloween tradition of my own, these super-seasonal enchiladas.  They a perfect warming meal after a night of trick-or-treating or a great dish for a grown-ups only party.  I usually make the big family sized batch, but divide them between smaller dishes to deliver to family and friends.  You can cook and shred the chicken ahead of time and store in a ziptop bag in the fridge, or the enchiladas will keep covered in the fridge for a whole day, so they are just ready to pop in the oven when the little monsters return from their mischief.  This recipe would also be a great way to use leftover cooked Thanksgiving turkey, and a real departure from plain old leftovers.

Chicken Enchiladas in Pumpkin Sauce

Serve a little sour cream on the side.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 cups chicken broth

1 large bunch cilantro

juice of 2 limes

8 green onions, white and some dark green parts, sliced

2  (15 – ounce) cans pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

6 garlic cloves

1/2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1 tablespoon adobo sauce from can

1 jalapeno chile, ribs and seeds removed

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 ½ cups water

salt and pepper to taste

12 – 16 corn tortillas

3 cups white cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Place the chicken breasts in a large saucepan with the broth, juice from one lime and a handful of cilantro, leaves and stems.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat then poach the breasts until thoroughly cooked, about 15 minutes. The juices should run clear when a breast is pierced with a knife.  Remove from broth and leave to cool; discard the broth.  Shred the chicken using fingers or a fork and set aside.

Working in two batches, place pumpkin puree, juice of one lime, green onions, garlic cloves, chipotles and adobo sauce, jalapeno, chili powder, cumin, water, salt and pepper and half the remaining cilantro leaves in a blender.  Puree until smooth and combined.  Pour into a bowl.  Repeat with the second batch, pour into the bowl and stir to combine.  The sauce will taste raw at this point but don’t worry, it will be great when cooked.

Finely chop the remaining cilantro leaves. Put aside 1 1/2 cups of the grated cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large 13 by 9 inch ovenproof casserole. Pour in about 1 cup of pumpkin sauce and spread to cover the bottom of the casserole.

Wrap the tortillas in a damp tea towel or a few damp paper towels.  Microwave for 30 seconds to soften the tortillas and make them pliable.  Keep the tortillas covered with the damp cloth while assembling the enchiladas.  You may want to zap them again during the process to keep them soft.

Lay a tortilla on a work surface.  Pile a small handful of chicken and a small handful of cheese on top and sprinkle with cilantro leaves.  Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in the casserole on top of the sauce.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.  Stuff the tortilla rolls closely together in the casserole.

Pour the remaining sauce over and around the enchiladas to cover.  Sprinkle the top with the reserved cheese. There may be a little more sauce than needed to cover the enchiladas. 

Bake the enchiladas until cooked through and bubbling, about 45 minutes. Cover with foil halfway through baking time if the cheese begins to brown.

The casserole can be covered and refrigerated several hours before cooking.

Serves 8 – 10

Well, it seems that flu season has well and truly descended.  Everyday I hear of yet  another friend picking up kids early from school, then the rest of the house comes down with the yuck.  And I watch the news.  I am considering buying stock in the hand-sanitizer companies. So with that in mind, what better action to take than to cook up your own batch of cure-all.

Really, is there anything more comforting than a nice warming bowl of soup when you feel icky?  And nothing says love better than homemade chicken noodle soup, that queen of comfort foods.  Now, don’t freak out, I am not asking you to undertakes some massive kitchen project. Anyone with a big pot can make good, fresh, chemical and additive free chicken soup.  It just takes a little patience – and for such great reward.  If you have never, or at least not in a very long time, had homemade chicken noodle soup, you will be blown away by the difference.  No chemical tang or aftertaste, just good, clean flavor and fresh vegetables and chicken, chock full of healthy and restorative ingredients.  Plus, chicken soup is perfect for a whole host of ills, not just the flu.  It makes a wonderful and welcome gift to friends who are under the weather.  It will last several days in the fridge, requiring just a quick re-heat to serve up a steaming bowl of good health. 

This particular recipe includes lots of health-boosting ingredients.  Ginger relives nausea and eases pain, Garlic is antibacterial and it helps fight colds and viruses. Leeks contain iron, fennel is high in vitamin C, and rosemary is good for headaches. Parsley is also high in Vitamin C and helps boost circulation, while sage has antibiotic properties. Oregano is antimicrobial and great for colds and flu, carrots contain antioxidants and onions are anti-inflammatory.  Consider putting all this information on a card or note when you deliver the soup to a sick friend.

Not feeling the flu yet?  Lucky you, but take this opportunity to put together a batch today and freeze it, without the noodles, for when (or if, hopefully) you are laid low. 

This recipe also hits on that other hot-button of the day.  Making this big ol’ pot of goodness costs under ten dollars, and that’s with some vegetables, herbs and chicken meat left over for chicken salad or pot pie.  So it’s comforting and cost-effective, no matter what ails you.

Chicken Noodle Penicillin

In general, but particularly when I am sick, or making this for someone who is, I always use organic vegetables, a hormone and antibiotic free chicken and noodles with as few additives as I can find (label reading is good).

1 whole chicken, no liver or gizzards

1 medium onion

2 medium leeks

1 small fennel bulb

3 carrots

3 celery ribs

10 cloves garlic

3 green onions

1 large sprig rosemary

1 large sprig oregano

2 bay leaves

3-4 stalks parsley

1 large sprig sage

1 – inch piece peeled ginger

2 teaspoons peppercorns

Sea salt

10 – 12 cups water

To Finish:

2 carrots, peeled

2 celery ribs

3 green onions, white part only

6 ounces wide egg noodles

2 cups chicken meat 

sea salt to taste

Wash all the vegetables and rinse the cavity of the chicken well. . Place the chicken in a large Dutch oven or stock pot (7 quarts) with a lid.  Peel the onion and cut it into pieces, toss in the pot.  Trim the roots and the dark green parts of the leeks, cut the white into chunks, rinse off, and toss in the pot. Remove the lacy fronds from the fennel, remove the outer layer of the bulb, chop into quarters and toss in. Cut a few feathery fronds and add.  Cut the carrots and celery into chunks and add to the pot.  Trim the roots from the green onions and toss them in with the rest of the ingredients.  Pour over the 10 – 12 cups water.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium, cover the pot and simmer for 2 hours.

When the soup has cooked, pour the whole pot into a colander set over a large bowl.  Pull out the chicken pieces and discard the vegetables. Rinse out the pot and wipe any pieces out. Leave the broth and chicken to cool slightly.  When cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the chicken bones (no skin or fat!) and shred into bite-sized pieces.  You may have more than the two cups meat needed to finish the soup; reserve it for another use.  Set aside.  Skim as much fat as you can from the top of the broth.  You can refrigerate the broth for a few hours to solidify the fat before removing if you’d like.

Finely dice the two peeled carrots and two celery ribs and the green onions.  Remember that the final product is meant to be eaten with a spoon, so make the pieces small enough.  Same goes with the chicken meat.  Add the vegetables back to the cleaned pot and pour in 2 cups of skimmed broth.  Cover and cook over medium high heat until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.  Remove the cover and cook until the broth is almost gone.  Pour in the remaining broth and bring to a boil.  Add the noodles, cover the pot again and cook for about 8 minutes, until the noodles are soft but not limp.  Stir in the chicken meat and heat through. Season to taste with sea salt.

Serve immediately, or leave the soup to cool.  When completely cool, ladle into ziptop bags or glass jars and seal tightly.  The soup will keep for three days sealed in the fridge.  To freeze, ladle the soup into ziptop freezer bags before adding the noodles, seal tightly, and freeze for up to three months.

When ready to eat, pour into a pot and heat over medium high heat until warmed and steaming.  Add the noodles until cooked if necessary.

Serves 6

Anyone who grew up in the South has some kind of fried chicken memory. Or maybe no particular, specific single event at all, because fried chicken is so ubiquitous. But it is one of the many food topics a true Southerner can weave a yarn around. Fried chicken a simple weekend supper, first choice for a picnic or dinner on the ground, someone’s favorite special occasion meal. Fried Chicken is served at big, noisy, sloppy family gatherings, packed into the car for road trips, served at summer camp, or for small Sunday after church lunches. That’s where I ate most of my fried chicken growing up.

Julia Child had dinner at my house when I was a kid. You may be wondering how this fits into a story about fried chicken, so here it goes. Julia and Paul Child were in Memphis raising funds for Planned Parenthood and my parents were selected to host a dinner party for the Child’s and select guests (that is to say potential donors). People were scrambling for the opportunity to participate – to wash Julia’s plate, or serve Paul a drink. The various committee members met to discuss plans and what exactly do you serve to Julia Child at party. Ideas about hiring the chefs from the best restaurant in town to prepare a gourmet meal, or caterers to cook a menu made up of the fanciest ingredients available in Memphis were discussed. But my mom put out that maybe Julia gets that all the time, so why don’t we serve her something unique, that she might only be served in Memphis. So a caterer who specialized in Southern family weddings was brought in to prepare the classic Southern meal – collards, grits, biscuits and fried chicken. All the influential muckety-mucks invited to write checks filled their plates over and over again, thrilled to be served their favorite foods rather than the precious, overblown “gourmet” stuff they expected. Both Julia and Paul were noticed returning to the buffet for seconds. I must have been eight or nine, but I remember her, so tall and jovial. I still use the signed copy of The French Cook my mother gave me then.

Nowadays, like many things, most people have given up on frying their own chicken. There are so many places to buy it ready-fried, and some of them are not half-bad. From the Colonel to local joints, to grocery stores and even Wal-Mart, more often than not if you get fried chicken, it came from someplace else. I have it on authority that many a hostess has carefully arranged fried chicken on a nice napkin in a lovely basket then thrown the bucket in the neighbor’s garbage can. People will drive miles for a famous chicken joint, or pick it up just around the corner. The big iron skillet of chicken bubbling away in hot grease is just a memory for many people, something a grandmother or beloved housekeeper used to do. At the mention of frying chicken now, I hear people groan or sigh – it’s so messy, frying makes the house smell, all that grease all over the range. Yes, grease splatters. Yes, the smell of that grease tends to linger, but homemade, cooked-with-love fried chicken is such a special, special offering that everyone should have the opportunity to dig into a juicy, crispy piece at least once. It may not make you abandon the bought chicken forever, but it will create your own Fried Chicken memory.

Fried Chicken

I have watched and read and practiced and learned over the years to become a pretty good chicken fryer. I have my not so good batches every once in awhile, but that hasn’t put me off. It’s a fine meal that is always appreciated.
So here are my tips for some chicken fried love.
First, you must marinate the chicken in buttermilk so the meat is moist and tender.
You have to season the chicken well. I use an old method of making a chicken shake – my own seasoning blend that I   mix up in batches and sprinkle on the chicken before flouring.
The grease needs to start hot and stay hot. And it should be shortening, maybe with some bacon grease thrown in.  The chicken needs to be left alone with the grease to come to an understanding.

For the Chicken Shake:
This makes much more than is needed for one batch of chicken but will store in airtight container. It is also a great seasoning for hamburgers or for any chicken – grilled or oven-fried – that you make.

4 Tablespoons sweet paprika
4 Tablespoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Measure all the spices into a small bowl and whisk to combine. Store in an airtight jar, preferably one with a shaker top.

For the Chicken:
Feel free to cut up the chicken yourself, though I always get the folks at the store to do it for me. You can fry as many batches of chicken as you want, just clean out any bits from the grease, add more shortening and bring the grease back up to temperature

1 whole cut up fryer chicken, eight pieces of chicken
2 – 3 cups buttermilk
Several shakes of hot sauce
Flour

Place the chicken parts in a large ziptop bag (or two). Pour over the buttermilk to cover the chicken completely. Shake in some good hot sauce and lightly shake the bag around to cover all the chicken pieces and distribute the hot sauce. Place the bag on a tray or plate to catch any spills and refrigerate overnight.

A couple of hours before you are ready to fry, take the chicken out of the fridge and place the pieces on a rack over a sheet pan. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken liberally with the chicken shake. Be very generous. Let the chicken sit so it begins to come closer to room temperature. Shortly before frying, scoop a generous amount of flour into a paper sack or a plastic bag. Place each chicken piece in the flour and shake it around to coat it with flour. Get in there with your hands to sprinkle and press flour onto all the crevices and parts of the chicken. Pick up each piece and shake off any loose flour and place back on the rack. Flour all the chicken pieces.

Scoop the shortening into a large, high-sided cast iron skillet set over medium high heat. Allow the shortening to melt and the hot grease to heat to 325 degrees. Increase the heat under the skillet slightly, then add the chicken pieces. Put the thighs in the middle of the pan and the breasts and the legs around the outside. Fry the chicken until golden brown on the first side, about twelve minutes before you even think about turning it over. Check a few times to make sure the oil is still around 325 degrees and adjust the heat accordingly. Flip the chicken – it should be easy to do with no resistance or sticking. If not, leave it another minute or so. Cook on the second side for another 12 minutes without moving. The chicken should be crispy and brown and cooked through – that’s 170 degrees internal temperature. Remove the cooked chicken to a clean rack set over a pan to drain. Do not use the same one you had the raw chicken on unless it has been thoroughly cleaned

Serve hot, at room temperature or cold.