Last Sunday, we went to our first Newcastle United home game – despite living here for 9 and a half years! Their opponents were Aston Villa and Tom is a Villa fan (so we won’t mention the score…). I don’t support any football team, so spent the whole game clapping everything!

We wanted something super quick for tea and decided to have this – we poached the chicken the day before and had already made the tomato sauce so all we had to do was construct it. This recipe is taken from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers, which is also where the tomato sauce comes from. We cheated a little bit by buying a bag of lightly salted tortilla chips – the original recipe says to make your own tortillas and cut them into triangles, but that defeated the object of this being a quick meal. If you’ve got friends coming over this would make a great dish for sharing!

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the poached chicken (to make in advance):
3 chicken breasts
2 carrots, chopped into large pieces
3 garlic cloves, peeled but not chopped
3 sprigs of rosemary
Half a lemon, quartered
A teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
1 litre of chicken stock

You will also need:
A quantity of roast tomato sauce
A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
230ml chicken stock
50ml vegetable oil
A large bag of slightly salted tortilla chips
A few tablespoons of sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350F/gas mark 4. Shred the chicken breasts using two forks.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pan, mix the shredded chicken, tomato sauce and coriander and heat through on a low heat, adding the chicken stock.

3. To assemble the Chilaquiles, use a large baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of tortillas, then a layer of the chicken and tomato mixture. Repeat these layers and then finish with the sour cream and enough cheddar cheese to cover the top.

4. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve with some green salad or some refried beans.

Enjoy!

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I absolutely love Mexican food, but have only really got into it over the last couple of years since I’ve been able to eat much spicier food. I still can’t stomach super hot things, but at least Tom doesn’t tease me as much about it now! This sauce is a staple for lots of Mexican dishes, and comes from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers. This is such a fantastic book, and I want to make everything from it! But I started with this simple sauce so that I can use it for a basis for other recipes. One quantity will serve 4-6 people and also freezes well. This sauce does take 40 minutes to make, so if you’re using it as a basis for another recipe you’ll need to bear that in mind.

Ingredients

12 large ripe tomatoes
1 onion, quartered
2 jalapeño chillies (remove the seeds for a milder sauce)
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
A good splash of red wine vinegar
A bay leaf
1 small handful of tarragon, chopped
1-2 tablespoons chervil, chopped
A pinch of Demerara sugar

Method

1. Roast the tomatoes, onion, chillies and garlic in a large, dry frying pan until they are blistered, blackened and softened all over. The garlic and chillies will be ready at least five minutes before the onion and tomatoes, so remove them as they are cooked.

2. Cool slightly and then peel away the skin from all the vegetables. Roughly puree the vegetables in a food processor.

3. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the pureed sauce, cooking for a few minutes over a high heat.

4. Then turn the heat right down and season generously with salt and pepper, the vinegar and bay leaf. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the mixture has reduced and slightly thickened.

5. Finally, add the chopped herbs and sugar, and check the seasoning.

If not freezing or using straight away, the sauce will keep for a few days in the fridge.

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