Sunday, January 13, 2013

Tomatillo Chicken

Have you ever gone into the fruit market and seen something and said, "What in the world is that and what is it used for?"  An example maybe a Tomatillo.
Tomatillos are also called "tomate verde" in Mexico (which means green tomato) and are considered a staple in Mexican cooking. It is a plant of the nightshade family, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. They are not very pretty, but they are tasty.



Tomatillos chicken can be made as a hot sauce or a mild sauce, although tomatillos are not hot alone, you have to add hot to make it a hot sauce.

Ingredients:

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 Tomatillos
1 Tomato
1 Jalapeno
1 Small onion
1 Garlic clove
Cumin
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Chicken:
Cut chicken breasts in half and use meat mallet and flatten to 1/2 inch- just try not to rip meat.  I use plastic wrap or parchment paper over the top to protect meat.  
Season with salt, pepper and cumin on both sides and in a screaming hot pan (I use cast iron), brown chicken on both sides.

Tomatillo Sauce:
Dice onions and saute until just about translucent.  Remove outer  paper skin and cut tomatillos, tomato, and garlic in large chunks and add to onions.  Cut Jalapeno in half, if you want sauce hot, just dice and add to pan.  If you desire a medium hot sauce, take out half of the seeds, if you want mild, take out all seeds.  Heat the add veggies a until almost soft.  Put contents of pan into your food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour over chicken. Heat through. Great served over brown rice.

Reserve some of the sauce to make fish taco recipe I will post later this week.