Chilaquiles and Conference

Lately my husband has been working late which leaves me home a lot by myself. And it means I decide to try cooking new things. He told me Thursday that he would have to work all weekend, and at first I didn't believe him. Then he said "no estoy bromeando amor" and I realized yep I would be alone Conference Weekend. Which is fine cause I can watch Conference in English instead of Spanish. But I did ask him to leave last night open for the two of us. Instead of going bowling like we had planned, we had an impromptu trip to get ice cream from Bruesters and then he said he didn't feel like bowling. Ummm Ok so what should we do? He told me just to drive so I did  and we decided to take a little drive to the DC temple. It was nice being down there at the Visitors Center pretty much alone except for the sister missionaries. And he was shocked that there wasn't a single one there yesterday who spoke Spanish. We were both shocked actually. But we walked around, watched some movies and came home to relax. That was when he asked what I was making for dinner tonight. I gave him two choices: chilaquiles or chili. He of course chose chilaquiles. So I had a task for today while watching conference. And I even have pictures!

What are chilaquiles for my non-Mexican friends reading this blog? Only the best Mexican comfort food ever. I guess it's usually a breakfast food, but I've never actually had it for breakfast. Everytime I've had it, it was always for dinner. And since hubby likes it at dinner with bistec just like I do, it worked perfectly. Basically it's homeade tortilla chips cooked in a salsa verde with bistec on the side, and topped with sour cream and cheese. Sounds weird and looks weird but I promise you it's amazing! And there are lots of variations. You can make it with hardboiled eggs, top it with onions, serve it with French bread (which is a lot of carbs in my opinion). Here's our recipe.

First you need to cut the tortillas into large pieces or triangles (you can also buy tortilla chips but you need to get really thick heavy ones and I can't find them here). You can also use tortillas that are kind of stale and old.

See how nice they look? Next you need to fry them in oil until they're crispy and lightly brown. Or dark brown as I usually end up doing. Once you take them out of the oil, put a little salt on them while they're still hot and put them in a bowl lined with a paper towel. You'll be frying them in batches unless you have a huge skillet or fryer.

Once you get nice crispy chips, you get to make the salsa. Now, I'm not putting any measurements here because well, I only cook with measurements when I'm baking. So you need to wash some tomatillos and jalapenos. Put them in a pot and cover them with water. It depends on how spicy you want to make your salsa and you also want enough to make a lot of liquid. Since it's only two of us I didn't use very many.

I should have added 2 or 3 more jalapenos to make it spicy for us. It wasn't spicy at all actually once it got soaked up by the tortillas. Put these on to boil until everything is nice and soft and isn't bright green anymore.

After they get to this point, let them cool a little bit and then put them into a blender without any of the water. You also need to add a clove or two of garlic and salt to your liking.

Once it's all in the blender turn it on and let it get all liquidy! See, no water needed. But really, this should have been fuller. So make another batch if you need to. Once you have that wonderful salsa verde ready to go, take a large skillet and heat a little bit of oil. Add the salsa to the skillet let it "fry" for a few minutes. Once it starts to boil some, turn the heat down and start adding the chips.

It'll be nice and bubbly.

Here are the chips being added to make it yummy and delicious. Make sure you turn the heat down and let it cook and soak up the salsa. You can add some more water if needed but it's also a good idea to make more salsa if you need to.

This is what it looks like once everything gets soaked up and tasty. Next you need some really thin steaks. I use beef milanesa. Put a little seasoning on them and cook them in a pan.

They only take a few minutes to cook so watch closely. Once you do that, put the chilaquiles on a plate, add a piece or two of steak (I tear mine into pieces), top it with cheese and sour cream. Now, normally you use queso fresco but my husband isn't a huge fan of it so I use regular shredded cheese.

And then just mix it all up and it's amazing! This is the best dish ever seriously. And since my husband ate all that was left, I figure it was pretty good.