Ain’t nothing wrong with that!

This is a take on a chilaquiles recipe I found while browsing Epicurious, but with cornbread replacing deep-fried corn tortillas. Chilaquiles is essentially “Mexican lasagna” in that it is a baked casserole, made by alternating layers of starch, meat, cheese, and other tasty things. It was experimental and—while delicious—the recipe we used needs tweaking, so the below is modified to fit more of what I would consider the “ideal.” This recipe used the following ingredients in our CSA box from today: corn, summer squash, and tomatillos (leaving us with more tomatoes omg help, peaches, nectarines, an onion, and some garlic). Tomatillos are little green tomatoes with funny hats, and they are the main ingredient in salsa verde.

Chicken and summer squash cornbread casserole

• 4-6 chicken breasts, cooked/leftover or poached, then shredded (see below)
• 3 boxes pre-mixed cornbread batter (such as Jiffy) prepared according to instructions (for Jiffy, you’ll need 3 eggs and also X c of milk)
• optional: 4-10 diced jalapeños mixed into the Jiffy cornbread, for added heat. :9
• 1 lb summer squash, peeled, sliced thin, and browned in a pan with some salt for about 5 minutes
• 2 1/2 c frozen then thawed corn kernels, or about 5 ears worth of corn kernels (instructions on cooking fresh corn can be found by consulting the internet)
• 3 c shredded cheese, in whatever combination of cheddar and monterey jack pleases you. Panela is actually the preferred variety, but it’s hard to find(?)
• 4 cups roasted tomatillo salsa, recipe below (can be substituted with store-bought salsa verde, but it is really easy)

Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a greased lasagna dish, lay down about half of the cornbread batter, then half of the squash, half of the corn, half of the chicken, half of the salsa, and half of the cheese. Repeat. Bake for 30 minutes, covered with foil. Remove foil, bring the oven down to 350˚F, and bake another 30 minutes, or until outer layer of cheese is golden brown and an inserted knife comes out clean. (The real difficulty is getting the middle layer of cornbread to cook; it is essential to the casserole’s structure.

Roasted tomatillo salsa
This yields about 6 cups. The recipe calls for 4 cups, but the rest is for serving. Also, salsa verde is something awesome to have around for other reasons.

• about 60 tomatillos, leaves removed, and rinsed under warm water to remove the stickiness
• 10 large cloves garlic, *with* skins
• 12 jalapeños (or 8 serrano chiles, if you can find them)
• 1 c fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• salt, to taste

Preheat broiler to high, oven rack in center position. Place tomatillos, garlic, and chiles on a foil lined baking dish, and broil for 8 minutes, turning tomatillos halfway through. Skin garlic, stem chiles, and blend these, the tomatillos, and the cilantro in batches in a food processor.* It doesn’t have to be puréed, but fairly smooth is better for this dish.

Poached chicken breasts

• chicken breasts
• water, salt
• appropriate herbs and spices

Put chicken breasts at the bottom of a pot such that they do not overlap (too much). Fill pot with water such that the chicken breasts are fully submerged. Add salt and other flavorings as desired (for this recipe I used about 2 tsp salt for two chicken breasts, plus some garlic powder and probably about 2 tsp of chili powder, but it depends on what you’re making). Bring to a gentle boil on medium-high heat, then bring it down to a simmer on low, cover, and simmer for 2-4 minutes. Turn off heat, and let the pot stand covered on the range for 20-30 minutes. Chicken should be done all the way through by then. You can reuse the water for more chicken breasts, too… also, you don’t really have to thaw them if they are frozen, because you’re heating them already, and adding water when poaching is a-okay. Poached chicken breasts are ready to eat, and there’s no added fat from the cooking. D:

Shredding a hot poached chicken breast is fairly easy; I found the best way was to attack it like some kind of madman dual-wielding forks. Shredded chicken is great in Mexican dishes (esp. enchiladas verdes) and also you can make it into delicious chicken salad for lunchtime sammiches.

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Top with a fried egg, and serve with fresh avocado, sour cream, and leftover salsa on the side, like so:

It’s grade-A coma-inducing comfort food. :v

*Apparently we obtained a food processor at some point, and I didn’t even know! So useful.