Chipotle Chicken with Rice and Vegetables

I love a hint of chipotle! But just a hint, because it can get hot! This dish has just the right amount of Chipotle flavoring giving it a nice smoky flavor without too much heat. It is a easy meal perfect for a busy weeknight utilizing one pot.

Here is what you will need:
4 chicken thighs
1 medium onion or 1 half large onion, diced
One lg can of whole tomatoes
2 Chipotle chiles in adobo
1 teaspoon cumin
3 carrots, cut into sticks
3 stalks of celery, cut into sticks
3 small potatoes, cut into sticks

3/4 cup rice

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Cilantro and limes for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs and brown them skin side down in the hot oil. 

When the skin side is brown turn them over and brown the other side as well.  

Meanwhile put your can of tomatoes your Chipotle chilis with the adobo that they come in and the cumin into a blender and puree all of this together. 

When the chicken is brown, take it out of the skillet and put it onto a clean plate. Reduce heat to medium low. Add your coarsely chopped onion to the pan and cook until translucent scraping the bottom every now and then to loosen the pieces of chicken that were left.

Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic and stir around with the onion. Strain the tomato mixture through a sieve into the pan. You can use a spatula to help get all of it through the sieve. This will get out the chili and tomato seeds and I did not get blended up.

Turn up the heat to medium. Simmer until the tomato sauce is bubbly (about ten minutes) and then add the chicken back in. Now take your potatoes carrots and celery which have been cut into sticks, and arrange them around the chicken and on top of the chicken. Cover and simmer on medium heat for about 25 minutes.

Take the chicken and vegetables out of the pan and put them on a plate, add one cup of water to the skillet, and raise heat to medium-high. Bring the water and tomato mixture to a boil and add the rice. Reduce heat to medium low. Make sure that all of the rice is submerged in the liquid. Put the chicken and vegetables back on top of the rice and put the lid on the skillet. Cook on medium low heat for 25 more minutes.

Serve with torn cilantro and lime wedges. Makes enough for two hungry people.

Tex Mex Enchiladas

These enchiladas are a favorite in our family. These are not the authentic enchiladas from my repertoire of Mexican home cooking, but these enchiladas are always welcome on the table.

Here is what you will need:
1 10 pack of burrito size flour tortillas
1 pound of ground beef
1 large onion
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tsp of adobo seasoning
One-half teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rectangular glass dish with cooking spray. Brown your ground beef. 

When the grease begins to come out of the meat, add one half of the onion cut into strips. Let this cook until the onion is transparent and the meat is nice and browned.

When your meat is finished browning put it into another bowl, and add your other half of the onion cut into  strips into the same pan where you cooked the meat. When the onion begins to get translucent, add in your large can of tomato sauce and all of your spices. Let this cook until it is nice and bubbly.

Note: You can use the store bought enchilada sauce that you can buy in the Mexican section 

of the store. I prefer to make my own; the canned sauce can come on a little too strong for me. If you decide to use the canned enchilada sauce from store, you will need two of the regular size cans of it. Then just use it in place of the homemade sauce that's here in the recipe.

Meanwhile, heat your tortillas over medium heat on a comal or in a non-stick pan. about 10 seconds per side should be enough. This is just to make them plyable enough to roll, the intention is not to brown them. 

Then  role the ground beef up into the tortillas. Line the burritos up in your greased rectangular glass dish. Once all of your burritos are lined up in the dish, pour all of the tomato sauce over the burritos. Use the back of a wooden spoon to smooth the sauce over so that all the burritos are covered. Then cover this with 2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese.

Put this into the oven on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until all the cheese is melted and nice and bubbly.

This makes about eight burritos and will serve about 4 people. The whole process takes about 45 minutes. I usually serve this with Spanish rice. Click here to see my recipe for Spanish rice.