A Collector's Favorite (Recipe, That Is)

I love to cook. I am something of a recipe collector. I have 20 years worth of Gourmet magazines (and any number of Fine Cooking, Food & Wine and Cooks’ Illustrated magazines) lined up in my pantry.

I even used some down time between my last full-time job and my journey into motherhood to set up an Access database for my recipes. I have over 700 recipes entered. With this database, I can browse my recipes to plan a menu for the next few days or week or whatever, print a checklist of ingredients needed for the meals, check my pantry for needed staples and ingredients, and print out a complete shopping list, all organized in the order of the aisles at the grocery store. So you can see that I take food and eating seriously.

In our pre-kid days, I would come home from work, roll up the sleeves of my silk blouse (I wouldn’t even take time to change) and get started on dinner. Then we would sit down at the little table in our little kitchen with the stark overhead lighting and enjoy our dinner and talk about our day. Often we spent the whole evening just sitting at that little kitchen table. Good food led to good conversations and time well spent together.

I’ve wanted to write about cooking in my blog on several occasions but by the time I got around to writing, cooking got preempted by other topics. I suppose I’m not sure if anyone will be interested in yet more recipes and food info. On the other hand, of all our household chores, cooking takes up more time than anything else when you take into account meal planning, grocery shopping, meal preparation, cleaning up, etc. Cooking and eating is a central part of family life. It is something that we all enjoy. It is obvious why there is a cable channel called the “Food Network” and none called the “Laundry Network.”

So at the risk of having your eyes glaze over, I’m offering one of my favorite recipes which I made last night. “Chicken with Chilaquiles and Salsa Verde” was originally published in Gourmet in November, 2005. It is a Mexican dish that is similar to chicken enchiladas with green chile, but it is much quicker and easier.

You mix together chicken broth and salsa verde (a.k.a. green chile salsa) and bring to a simmer, add some shredded chicken, and then dump in a bowlful of tortilla chips. Stir the whole thing for a minute or two, pour onto a serving dish and top with cheese and cilantro. It’s that simple.

If you keep chicken broth, salsa and tortilla chips in your pantry, you can make this on a moment’s notice if you have leftover chicken or when you bring home a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Add a green salad or a side of black beans and dinner is done.

This is an unusual recipe and it invariably inspires low expectations from those I give it to. All I can say is, you just have to try it. I grew up in New Mexico eating great green chile enchiladas and I love this dish, both for its flavor and its simplicity. Gourmet’s introduction of the recipe sums it up: “This dish was the surprise of the year. The ingredients might seem ordinary, but trust us — it's fantastic.”

Click here to link to the recipe on Gourmet’s website. I make a couple of minor changes when I make this recipe. I cut down a little on the quantity of chips, to reduce calories, and I use either cheddar or a Mexican cheese since I don’t like feta. That’s it.

Let me know if you think it sounds weird, or, if you’re adventurous enough to try it, let me know what you think.