Last week, AC and I took a trip to visit his brother and family in Salem, OR. Like us, S and his wife love to cook and basically are foodies. We also share a similar love for Mexican/Central/South American cuisines...in fact, I believe this past Christmas we all gave each other Mexican cookbooks :) I can honestly say I ate very well on this trip with minimal cooking on my part. My favorite meal, S and his wife whipped up, was tortas with his wife's, R, famous rice recipe. AC and I are definitely going to need to make this dish sometime soon! Here's the recipe copied from the blog of S. Oh, btw...I think onions are perhaps the best thing ever on the grill because they carmelize perfectly while staying moist. yum!
(Quantities represent what we use to make 2 sandwiches)
Tortas DF
2 bolillos (basically Mexican-style French rolls -- available at most Mexican bakeries and every Super Wal-Mart in the Willamette Valley)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 avocado, sliced
queso asadero, sliced thin (queso fresco works as well if it's not too crumbly)
pickled sliced jalapenos
mayonnaise
butter or margarine
salt
pepper
chile powder (I generally use hot New Mexico)
olive oil
Cooking
1. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and chile powder. In the winter I tend to thinly slice the chicken, season it, and then saute it in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. In the summer, I season the chicken, grill it, and then thinly slice it after it's grilled. You have one of these, right?
2. Thinly slice the onions into rings. Carmelize with olive oil in a pan over medium to medium-high heat.
3. Slice each bolillo lengthwise. Slather the inner surface with butter or margarine. In a pan with enough flat surface (comal, griddle, saute pan -- I use an 8" Calphalon saute pan for my comal duties) over medium-high heat, place the butter side down of each bolillo-half and cook until the butter surface is browned and the bolillo-half is warm. Be careful not to burn them -- watch your heat level.
Assembly
For each bolillo, slather the bottom half with mayonnaise. Put each bottom down, because now we stack. First, put as many pickled jalapeno slices on top of the mayo as you think you can handle. Second, put the sliced chicken on top of the jalapenos. Third, put the onions on top of the chicken. Fourth, put the thinly sliced cheese on top of the onions. Fifth, put the sliced avocado on top of the cheese. Finally, place the top of the bolillo on the stack. If you are brave, cut it in half.
While in Oregon, we also visited Bend, OR and had some pretty good microbrews at Dechutes Brewery. I was surprised that I actually was enjoying the darker beers - perhaps, when you find quality, it's easier to venture outside of your comfort beer zone. I think our next challenge should be to make our own beer :)
2 comments:
A couple of notes:
In the summer we also do the onions and bolillo-toasting on the grill, which I didn't make abundantly clear in the recipe.
To carmelize the onions, I put them on foil and toss the rings with olive oil and put them over a medium flame and stir them occasionally.
For the bolillos, I put them butter side down on the grill until the butter is melted and there are grill lines and then I let them sit on the upper rack to let them crisp up a little (without burning them).
The reference to "you have one of these?" is for a meat thermometer, which is something you should have if you cook meat.
As you know, you can make these vegetarian by eliminating the chicken and just loading up on the avocado and cheese. AC can comment on how this tasted :)
Mmm, this looks yummy (minus the chicken for me, of course) :) Glad you had some time to do some cooking recently!
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