Mexican Chicken Casserole

Thanks to driving rain, a longer commute than normal and a trip to the grocery store, I arrived home at 7:20 tonight. That's two hours after I left work. I normally have a long commute, but tonight was really an eye opener in that I will still have to cook even if I don't want to. I would have loved to just sit on the couch after braving that mess, but the kitchen awaits. So, I donned my best knock-around clothes (a 10-year-old college party shirt and track pants), fed the beast:


*urp*

... and got to work.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 (4.5 oz.) cans chopped green chiles, divided
1 3/4 lbs. skinned, boned chicken breasts
2 tsp. olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup evaporated skim milk
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup (2 oz.) tub-style light cream cheese
1 (10-oz.) can enchilada sauce
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 oz. tortilla chips, crushed

Combine broth and 1 can of chiles in a large skillet; bring to a boil. Add chicken; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done, turning chicken once. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, reserving cooking liquid; cool chicken. Shred meat with two forks, and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 can of chiles and onion; sauté 3 minutes or until soft. Add reserved cooking liquid, milk, Monterey Jack cheese, cream cheese and enchilada sauce; stir well. Stir in shredded chicken; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Place four tortillas in the bottom of a 2 quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Spoon 2 cups chicken mixture over tortillas. Repeat layers twice, ending with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes
eight servings (about 1 cup per serving).

Final product

Keep in mind that I halved this recipe, since it's just me here at the house now. I'll be taking lots of these leftovers to work for lunch in the following days, but I want to minimize the amount of food I have laying around. This recipe halved easily and I didn't have any problems. I ended up using a little more chicken broth in the very first part of the recipe just to make sure I had enough liquid in the pan to cook the chicken. When the cooking liquid-milk-cheese-cheese-enchilada sauce came together, it looked really soupy. I was afraid I would have to reduce the amount I put into the casserole, but as soon as I added the chicken it thickened up nicely. I used a few extra corn tortillas when doing the layering, considering the only option to purchase corn tortillas at my Big Box Retailer was in packs of 90. Ninety corn tortillas? The hell am I going to do with 90 corn tortillas?!

Once the dish was assembled, I popped it in the oven uncovered. Looking back, I should have covered it while cooking because the cheese that was on top of the dish came out of the oven looking a little rubbery. It tasted fine, but some foil on top probably would have prevented that. When it came out it was bubbling and cheesy and smelled really good. I conveniently bypassed the instructions to let the dish sit 10 minutes before you eat and immediately dug in, searing the roof of my mouth with molten chicken-cheese mixture. I'll survive. Besides, by this point it was 9:10pm and I was hungrier than a French runway model. The chiles were apparent, but in no way hot (spicy hot, that is). The casserole was not soupy at all and I think the tortillas had soaked up a lot of the moisture, as the tortillas toward the middle of the dish were soggy. However, everything mixed together so well that the soggy tortillas didn't bother me.

Overall, I would cook this again. Halved, this makes a perfect dinner for two with a little leftover for the next day. It's also from Cooking Light so it's not horrible for you. I had to make just a few adjustments in my recipe, again, for items I didn't have at my local store (regular evaporated milk as opposed to evaporated skim milk) but all in all, this is a keeper.

*A note on reheating this dish - zapping leftovers in the microwave is a fine way to reheat, but it really does a number on the cheese and tortilla chips on top. The cheese got a little more rubbery and the chips lost their crisp and got tough. All in all, it was still good and not reason enough for me to never nuke any leftover Mexican Chicken Casserole again. This stuff is hella good even the second (and third) time around.