mexican casserole
my mom made this a lot growing up. this is enchiladas with more lasagna-like structure.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced. 1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes 1.5 - 2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breast 2 14 oz can beans (black or pinto), drained 1 package of flour tortillas oregano black pepper cumin dried chilis or chili powder 100g pancetta (optional) 1 lb grated cheese, cheddar fresh parsely sour cream (optional)
Instruction
sauce and chicken
generally: sauce gets made, chicken is added, once cooked through remove chicken, shred chicken, add back to sauce and mix.
in a skillet with enough clearance to hold the chicken with a lid, add 2 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive) over medium high heat. add half of the yellow onion and cook until soft and starting to brown. add 4 cloves garlic, 1 tsp oregano, 2 tsp cumin, 10 cracks black pepper, 1 tsp salt, and however much chile powder you'd like, probably 1 tsp - 2 tbsp. cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. add in 14 oz can of tomato sauce and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
(optionally make a more complicated and delicious enchilada sauce with dried chilis, or dump in a store bought sauce. just have a sauce started at this step).
place chicken in pan, sprinkling salt on top of the pieces as you go. cover and reduce heat to medium low. cook for about 25 minutes. at this point start the beans.
remove lid, remove the cooked chicken and place on a cutting board to cool for about 5 minutes. leave the pan on medium low, stirring occasionally. once chicken is cool enough to handle, use 2 forks to shred the chicken. cut the heat on the sauce and add in 1 tbsp soy sauce and return the chicken to the skillet. mix thoroughly to combine.
beans
use a small pan for the beans. add 1 tbsp oil. if using pancetta, add to pan and cook for about 3 minutes on medium high. add the other half of the onion and fry for 4 minutes until starting to turn brown. add in 2 cans of beans and water so that the top beans are just above the water line. bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
using a potato masher (ideal) or a wooden spoon (also fine), mash the beans into the side of the pan until it gets to be a refried bean consistency.
assemble and bake
preheat oven to 375f / 190c. assemble in a 9x13 baking dish.
to assemble, create layers of each ingredient according to the list below, bottom ingredients on the bottom. for each tortilla layer you’ll want to create as closely as possible 1 layer of tortilla. the easiest way to do this is to tear straight lines into the tortilla and line them up into corners. then fill in the gaps with smaller ripped tortilla pieces as needed. there shouldn’t be much overlap, but it’s more important to have the entire layer covered with tortilla.
be sure that the bottom layer is sauce, otherwise the tortillas will weld to the bottom of the pan. just scoop a little out from the chicken and sauce mixture.
my mom would remind you 3-4 times to make sure that each layer is spread evenly to the side of the pan.
layer as follows, trying roughly to ration each ingredient so that 1/3 of it makes it into each layer.
double cheese beans saucy chicken tortilla ———— cheese beans saucy chicken tortilla ——— cheese beans saucy chicken tortilla ——- sauce
bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. if the cheese isnt melted enough broil for one minute at a time. remove and top with fresh chopped parsley (not cilantro- mom has the genetic thing where it tastes like soap). optionally serve with sour cream.