Tasty Tostadas

A tasty dinner with 15 minutes worth the work (or less)....ummmmmm, YES PLEASE!  This is a slam dunk recipe that you can pull together with things you should have at home already.

Ingredients:

1 pkg  Chicken Breasts

1 10oz can Rotel (use Original with Green Chilies if you want it spicy, use Mild if you want it less spicy)

2 cups Chicken Stock (This is a recipe that I use the box stock in, save the homemade stuff for chicken soup, I will be blogging about that later this week.  Stay tuned)

1 lg can Beans (I usually use black beans because they have the most nutrients, but what ever you have on hand is fine)

1 pkg Taco Seasoning (try to find one that is low sodium, as always I try to buy low sodium then I can control the salt)

Lettuce (Romaine hearts have more nutrients than Iceberg, but either will do fine)

Tomatoes (You will notice the lack of tomatoes in my pictures.  This is because I don't tend to eat fresh tomatoes unless it is tomato season.  Tomatoes out of season just don't taste like anything)

Avocado

Tostadas

Cheese (I used sharp cheddar today because that is what I had in house.  I would prefer Queso Fresco or Queso Chihuahua)

Sour Cream or Mexican Crema

Lets get started...

Clean your chicken breasts and cut in half (cut like a hamburger bun is cut)

Season with salt and pepper.  In a wide, heavy pan put a thin layer of oil.  Heat over high heat until you just see faint wisps of smoke.  Carefully place chicken in pan.  Sear until chicken is golden brown.  Flip over and sear the other side.  The reason you cut the chicken in half is to give you more surface area to sear.  When you sear meat you caramelize the sugars in the meat.  This is what makes a seared steak taste so much better than a steamed steak.

Now that both sides of your chicken is GBD (Golden Brown and Delicious) add your Rotel, 1/2 pkg of taco seasoning and chicken stock.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a lid.  Simmer (gently bubbling) for 15 minutes.  Remove chicken, place in the fridge to get it cool enough to handle.  Save the liquid for later.

While you chicken is cooling you have time to get the other prep done.  Rinse your canned beans well (do not use the liquid they come in, it will give you gas).  Put beans into a pan, add approx 2 cups of water.  Using your hands or a potato masher smash the beans until about half of them are mush and half are whole beans.  Add the other 1/2 of the pack of taco seasoning.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Stir often, they will burn on the bottom quickly.

Slice you lettuce finely.  Wash and dice your tomato (use a serrated knife to cut tomatoes).  Cut avocado into slices or dices.

Now back to the chicken.  Once it is cool enough to handle shred it into fine pieces and add it back to the pan with the reserved tomatoes and stock.  Continue to cook until the sauce is reduced enough to just coat chicken.

Just set up a little buffet line and let everyone build their own tostada.

Notes:

If you have left over shredded chicken from roasting chickens (see Perfectly Roasted Chicken Blog) Simply start by bringing the Rotel, taco seasoning and chicken stock to a simmer. Add shredded cooked chicken and reduce as per the recipe.

If you do not want to use taco seasoning feel free to use 1 tsp ground cumin in each the chicken and the beans.  I use taco seasoning because it not only has all the right spices already, it also has a thickening agent that will help make the chicken saucy)

To make an all purpose cooking oil I buy extra virgin olive oil and vegetable oil.  Mix 1/4 olive oil with 3/4 vegetable oil.  This will give you the best flavor and a high enough smoke point to sear meat properly.  This way you also have extra virgin oil on hand to make salad dressings with and vegetable oil to fry with.  2 products that do 3 jobs

This chicken is a great in other recipes also.  Use it to make quesadillas, burritos and regular tacos.