Mexican Entree
FAJITA BOWLS
INGREDIENTS
4 8″ flour tortillas
non-stick spray
½ teaspoon red chili powder
¾ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon coriander
¾ teaspoon Poultry MagicTM spice or chicken seasoning
1½ pounds chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves
1 small onion
½ green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
½ red bell pepper
4½ tablespoons vegetable oil (3 times at 1½ tablespoons)
1½ tablespoons lime juice (3 times at 1½ tablespoons)
¼ teaspoon TabascoTM sauce or a Mexican hot sauce
1½ cups lettuce
½ cup shredded Four Mexican cheeses
salsa (optional)
SPECIAL UTENSILS
4 nonstick tortilla salad bowl molds (nonstick and oven safe)
mandoline (optional)
lazy Susan, about 24 inches across, if you can find one.
Serves 4. Takes 1 hour.
PREPARATION – FAJITA SHELLS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray both sides of tortilla with non-stick spray. Gently push flour tortilla down into tortilla mold. Do this for every tortilla mold. Put tortilla molds in oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until tortilla molds brown around the edges and become crispy.
PREPARATION – FIXINGS
While tortilla bowls bake, make spice mix by whisking together in small bowl: chili powder, cumin, coriander, poultry spice, and Tabasco sauce. This is the spice mix. Cut chicken into strips ½” wide and 2″ long. Add ⅓ of spice mix to chicken. Mix until chicken is coated with spice.
Mince garlic cloves. Use mandoline to slice the onion into rings. Cut rings into fourths. Combine ⅓ of spice mix with garlic and onion. Use mandoline to slice all the bell peppers into rings. Cut bell-pepper rings into fourths. Combine ⅓ of spice mix with bell peppers.
Add garlic, onion , 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, ½ and tablespoon lime juice to frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat or until bell pepper softens. Transfer to bowl on lazy Susan. Add garlic, onion, 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, ½ tablespoon lime juice to frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat or until onion softens. Stir frequently. Transfer to bowl on lazy Susan.
Add bell pepper, 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, and ½ tablespoon lime juice to frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat or until bell pepper softens. Transfer to bowl on lazy Susan. Add garlic, onion, 1½ tablespoons vegetable oil, ½ tablespoon lime juice to frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat or until bell pepper softens. Stir frequently. Transfer to bowl on lazy Susan.
Add chicken strips, tablespoons vegetable oil, and ½ tablespoon lime juice to frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes at medium-high heat or until cooked through. Stir frequently. Transfer to bowl on lazy Susan.
Shred lettuce. Put lettuce and cheese in bowls on lazy Susan. Fill tortilla bowl with chicken, onion/garlic, bell pepper, lettuce, and cheese. Arriba.
TIDBITS
1) It is doubtful there ever was a real lazy Susan.
2) To clear the good name of Susan, here is a list of famous Susan singers: Susan Boyle, Susan McFadden, and Suzi Quatro–Okay a variation on Susan, but I listened to her in college, so there.
3) Famous Susan actresses: Susan St. James, Susan Hampshire–I watched her in a Masterpiece Theater series during college; she rocked, Ms. Hampshire–Susan Dey, Susan Lucci, Susan Oliver, Susan Sarandon–star of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show–and Susan Hayward
4) Famous Susan authors: Susan Cheever, Susan Isaacs, Susan Sontag–I have a book of hers sitting on my bookshelf–and Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.
5) Famous U.S. senator: Susan Collins.
6) Famous social reformer and women’s right activist: Susan B. Anthony
7) Famous interdisciplinary structural biologist: Susan S. Taylor
8) Famous dog of Queen Elizabeth II: Susan.
9) Famous Susan mass murderers: None.
10) Famous Susan dictators: None.
11) See? Susans are brilliant and nice. I can vouch for the niceness of every Susan I’ve met.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
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