3 posts tagged “tomatoes”

I cheated by using a can of enchilada sauce. I had it in the cupboard and figured I should use it. Anyway, this was extremely tasty.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 skinless boneless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn
4 chipotle chilies, canned in adobo
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
6 corn tortillas
1 15 oz can green enchilada sauce

Coat large skillet with oil. Season chicken with garlic salt, pepper, and cumin. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.
Saute garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add tomatoes, saute 1 minute. Add more cumin.
Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to skillet, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.
Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 9 inch glass baking dish with a a small amount of enchilada sauce. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven until cheese melts.

I've got a nasty cold. I decided I wanted something with a lot of flavor... something comforting.... something that required very little effort. I opted for soup.

Lauren came over and I pulled out the Crock Pot. I dumped in the following:

3 cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
lots of cumin
garlic salt
sweet paprika
smidge of cayenne
Tapatio hot sauce (only about 5 drops)

I set the Crock Pot for 4 hours.

About 30 minutes before it was done, I added:

1 can black beans
1 cup frozen bell pepper strips (it's what I had)

I also pulled out the chicken and shredded it.

Meanwhile, I put some vegetable oil in a skillet and fried until golden brown:

5 small flour tortillas (lovingly cut into strips by Lauren)

When the soup was done, I served it with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and fried tortilla strips.

Yum.

I don't claim that this is authentic anything. This is just a delicious simple chili that I've grown up eating and that has won a number of chili cookoffs in my hometown. It reminds me home and of my father, the man who makes this chili. And mine is almost as good as his. Almost.

We have one medium onion, chopped, a pound of ground turkey (it actually calls for ground beef, but all I had in the freezer was turkey and it works), 4 15 oz cans of whole tomatoes, 1 28 oz can of dark kidney beans, garlic salt, chili powder, sweet Hungarian paprika (Spanish is more bitter and in this I prefer the Hungarian), and sugar (in the pinch bowl).

First we brown the ground beef then sautee the onions:

Then, we add our cans of tomatoes:

Since we used whole, make sure you mash them well. Then, add seasonings. Now, I don't measure my seasonings. I go by taste. I will say I used a lot of chili powder and I didn't dump it all in here. I added it over time until the chili was nice and dark and had the proper flavor. I used a little over half a 2.5oz container total throughout the cooking time, if that tells you anything. I probably used a teaspoon of paprika and 2 teaspoons of garlic salt. Also, add a couple of pinches of sugar as well to take the edge off the tomatoes.

Then, we cover it and let it cook on low for, oh, an hour and a half:

After that, I added the kidney beans:

I continued to cook it for another hour or so, tasting and adding more chili powder along the way. Finally, it had reached the right consistency and flavor. I topped it with a little shredded cheese: