MEXICAN ESSENTIALS: CREAMY CHICKEN OVER RICE

Mexican Essentials: Creamy Chicken Over Rice image

Played about with this for the last few days. I thought about making it into a casserole by mixing it with noodles or rice. I thought about oven baking or stovetop cooking. In the end, I separated the sauce and chicken from the starch, and let it cook low-and-slow in the slow cooker. Then, ladle it over some rice or pasta. So,...

Provided by Andy Anderson !

Categories Chicken

Time 4h10m

Number Of Ingredients 27

Ingredients

PLAN/PURCHASE
THE CHICKEN
1 Tbsp grapeseed oil, or other non-flavored variety
1 Tbsp sweet butter, unsalted
2 lb chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
THE SAUCE INGREDIENTS
10 oz tomatillos, paper husks removed, stemmed, and rough chopped
1 medium yellow onion, rough chopped
2 - 3 large dried posilla negro peppers, or pepper of choice
3 clove garlic, rough chopped
1 tsp ground cumin, or to taste (i like cumin)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 - 2 pinch cayenne pepper
salt, kosher variety, to taste
white pepper, freshly ground, to taste
14 oz diced tomatoes (1 can) with juice
THE FINISHING TOUCHES
2 oz cheddar cheese, sharp variety, shredded
2 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 c half & half
lime juice, to taste
AT THE TABLE ITEMS
flour and/or corn tortillas
sour cream
salsa, your choice
hot sauce, i prefer frank's

Steps:

1. PREP/PREPARE
2. If you have a skillet big enough to hold the chicken, and then simmer the sauce, use it... It will save cleaning up an additional pot.
3. Dried versus Fresh Peppers If you are using dried peppers cut off the stems and attempt to shake out as many seeds as you can. Then, soak in warm water for about thirty minutes, open them up and remove any remaining seeds; finally, chop and reserve. If you are using fresh pepper, remove the stems, the seeds and dice.
4. Are Dried Peppers Hotter than Fresh? That depends on how you are measuring them. Fresh peppers contain a lot of water; dried obviously do not. For every pound of dried peppers, it would take 10 pounds of fresh to equal the same heat level. But that is a bit misleading. When you dry out a pepper it loses 90% of its weight to the evaporation of water; however, capsaicin, the part of the pepper that makes the heat, does not evaporate. So, a fresh 10-ounce pepper, once dried, would weigh 1 ounce, but it would still be just as hot.
5. Gather your ingredients (mise en place).
6. Add the oil and butter to a skillet over medium heat.
7. Add the chicken thighs, and sauté until beginning to brown, 3 - 4 minutes per side.
8. Remove from the pan and reserve.
9. Add all the sauce ingredients to the pan (except the can of tomatoes) and allow to simmer until the veggies soften, about 8 - 10 minutes.
10. Canned tomatoes are already cooked, so there is no need to add them at this point.
11. Let cool for 10 minutes, place into a food processor (along with the canned tomatoes) and process until smooth.
12. You can leave it slightly chunky, if you prefer.
13. Cut the chicken into strips, add them and the sauce to the bowl of a slow cooker, then cook on low for 3.5 - 4 hours.
14. After the allotted time, open the cooker and add the finishing touch ingredients.
15. Give the mixture a stir and slow cook for an additional 30 minutes.
16. Do a final testing for proper seasoning.
17. PLATE/PRESENT
18. Serve over rice or noodles with some crusty bread and a small side salad. Enjoy.
19. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.