Chicken Chilaquiles

Every year, hubs and I go to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. The Mexico Pavilion always has chilaquiles, which is one of his favorite dishes at the festival. The recipe they give for this sounds nothing like what we ate, so I set out to make my own.

Chilaquiles can be made a few ways, and I went the route of a lasagna. I layered tortillas, chicken, a bechamal seasoned with roasted peppers, vegetables, and cheese. I was worried that it would be a bit bland, so I also made a green tomatillo sauce to serve with it.

Chicken Chilaquiles

3 poblano chiles

1 jalepeno pepper

1 red bell pepper

3 Tbs butter

1/2 c all purpose flour

3 c milk (I use 2%)

2/3 c shredded colby jack cheese, divided

8 oz corn kernels

1/3 c chopped red onion

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1 egg

8 oz part-skim ricotta cheese

18 6-inch diameter corn tortillas

1 1/4 lb cooked chicken, shredded

5 green onions, sliced

Preheat broiler. Line the bottom of a baking pan with foil. Cut all the peppers in half, removing membranes and seeds. Place on the foil, cut side down. Flatten each pepper half with your palm. Broil until the skins of the peppers are mostly charred. Remove from the oven. Placepeppers in a ziploc bag; seal let sit for 10 minutes. Remove peppers, and peel the skins off. Chop the red pepper; set all of them aside.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour, and cook until lightly brown. Graduallyadd milk, whisking until smooth. Cook over medium high heatuntil slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

Pour about 1 c of milk mixture into a blender. Add the poblanos and jalepeno pepper. Blend until peppers are finely diced. Return to the pan with the rest of the milk mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix together the red bell pepper, 1 c cheese, corn, red onion, cilantro, egg, and ricotta cheese.
Coat a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick spray. Coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of sauce. Cover the sauce with 6 tortillas, overlapping them slightly. Spread half the ricotta mixture over thetortillas, followed by half the chicken, 1 cup of grated cheese, 1/3 of the green onions, and 1 cup of sauce.

Repeat layers: tortillas, remaining ricotta mixture, remaining chicken, 1 c grated cheese, greenonions, and 1 cup of sauce. Top with a final layer of tortillas. Cover with foil, and bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Uncover, sprinkle remaining cheese and green onion over the top. Bake, uncoered, another 10minutes, until cheese melts. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.

Tomatillo Sauce

8 green tomatillos, skins removed

1/2 jalepeno, halved and seeded

1 green onion, white part only, chopped

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1 1/2 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

3 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped

Place the tomatillos and jalepeno in a medium saucepan. Add enough water to to cover the bottom 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the tomatillos and pepper from the water; place in a blender. Add green onion, and garlic, and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Let cool to room temperature, and stir in cilantro.