One of my very favorite cookbooks in my arsenal is one called The Well-Filled Tortilla. I love food in the form of a taco (let's be perfectly honest: I would probably love food in the form of a lug wrench. I just love food) and this wonderful little gem of a cookbook takes every imaginable flavor and applies it to a taco. There are Asian flavors, Middle-Eastern Flavors, French Bistro flavors, traditional Mexican flavors, and even all-American flavors, all wrapped in tortillas in different forms. I just think that almost any food on earth tastes even better wrapped in a tortilla.
This is one of the things I'd never have thought of wrapping in a tortilla. The authors of the book explain that "During stewing, chicken sops up flavors and aromas like a beauty queen soaks up flattery. At the same time, the meat cooks to such a moist tenderness it practically shreds itself."
I am not generally a fan of dark meat, although our favorite barbecue joint in our neighborhood has a barbecued half-chicken that is cravably good. But whole chickens are cheap and easy to find and make this recipe a real bargain, as well as being true comfort food. Chicken becomes even more mellow while resting in its own sauce, incidentally: the leftovers for this are even better than the original dish.
Stewed Chicken With Almonds and Anchos
4-5 pounds chicken pieces, a combination of breasts, thighs, and legs, or 1 1/2 chickens, quartered
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Small pinch of ground cinnamon
4 whole cloves
2 dried ancho chilies, stemmed and seeded
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cans (14 oz. each) crushed tomatoes in puree
3 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 cup almond slivers
18 corn or 12 flour tortillas, warmed or crisped just before serving
Toppings: 2 cups heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
2 cups cilantro leaves
In a large nonreactive pot, combine the chicken, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, chiles, salt, tomatoes, and 3 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer until the meat pulls away from the bones, 35-45 minutes. Remove the chicken and chiles and set aside. Continue to simmer the sauce for 15 minutes while the chicken cools.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the almonds, and stir until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken; discard the skin and bones. Scrape the pulp off the chile skins. Return the chicken and chile pulp to the pot.
To assemble, spread about 1/3 cup of the chicken and sauce in the center of a tortilla. Top with the whipped cream, toasted almonds, and cilantro. Fold and serve.
2 comments:
I wonder if I keep fewer Mexican ingredients on hand than the average person. I read so many of your recipes that call for various kinds of fresh, canned and dried peppers, and I am up a creek. I'm sure I could find those things easily at the local Giant, but it just never occurs to me to stock up on them.
Well, I cook with them a lot, probably more often than the average person, so I tend to have them on hand. They are all mostly available at local grocery stores in neighborhoods with a fairly diverse population. Dried peppers are maybe a little tougher to find, particularly good fresh ones that haven't turned to dust after three months on the grocery shelves. Whole Foods is a good source for them, though.
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