Every once in a while, I get a serious craving for Mexican or Tex-Mex food.  I spent a long time living in Texas and definitely developed a taste for that general cuisine.  Unfortunately, I have yet to come across a decent Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant in Berkeley Heights or the surrounding areas.  So, sometimes my wife and I head into NYC and go to Toloache, our favorite Mexican restaurant in the area and my craving is curbed.  (Yes, google it and go immediately if you live in the area!)  At other times, I take matters into my own hands and attempt to create something unique and tasty.  This dish turned out very well.  I’m not sure just how unique it is, but it is certainly in the general ballpark of good Mexican and Tex-Mex.  It’s also a very versatile dish.  If you don’t have time to roast a chicken, try grilling a chicken breast.  If you don’t feel like chicken, try it with beef, pork, or even shrimp.  If you want to make it vegetarian…go for it.  Serve grilled eggplant or other grilled veggies with it.  At any rate, you get the idea…you can do what you want with it.

The sauce is interesting and turned out super tasty.  It utilizes common Mexican chile peppers and borrows some techniques from Spain (using the dried bread and not cooking it).  It gets better as it sits in the fridge as the flavors can mingle together better (it should last a couple weeks in the fridge in an airtight container).  It tastes sweet and jam-like with a mild heat that lingers.  You can definitely taste the garlic and the depth of flavor you get from the dried chiles and combination of other ingredients is pretty incredible for such a simple sauce/salsa to put together.  Hope you enjoy it!  Recipe and additional picture after the jump.

Ingredients:

For chicken:

1 Roasting Chicken (4-5 lbs)

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1 lemon

For Spinach:

1 Bunch Fresh Spinach

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher Salt and Pepper

For Hash:

2-3 Ears of Corn, husks and silks removed

1 Medium Onion, chopped

1-2 Tomatoes, chopped

¼ Cup Vegetable Oil

Kosher Salt and Red Pepper Flakes

For Ancho/Guajillo Pepper Sauce (Salsa):

4 Ancho Chiles

3 Guajillo Chiles

4 Cloves of Garlic

1-2 Tomatoes, quartered

1 Large Piece of Stale Bread, chopped into 1 inch pieces

½ Cup Vegetable Oil

Around 1 Cup Reserved Pepper Water (more on that in the recipe)

1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar Syrup (or to taste)

1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Serve with Queso Fresco, Corn Tortillas, Cilantro, Lime Wedges, and Avocado Slices (use all or just some that you have on hand as garnishes).

 

Instructions:

For Sauce/Salsa:

• Place chile peppers in a bowl and cover chiles in very hot water.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap for around 20-30 minutes (until soft).
• Once softened, remove peppers from water.  For a milder sauce, remove seeds.  Keep the seeds for a spicier version.  Cut peppers into strips and set aside.  Reserve water that the peppers steeped in.
• In a food processor, place 1 inch pieces of bread and garlic cloves.  Process until very fine (around a minute or so).   Add tomatoes and pepper strips.  Process again until a thick paste is formed.
• Add Vinegar, agave, and ½ cup of the reserved water from the peppers.  Process until a thick sauce forms, about a minute or so.
• Slowly drizzle the vegetable oil into the food processor as it runs, which will take around another minute.
• Check sauce for consistency.  For a thick sauce, stop here.  To thin the sauce, simply add more reserved pepper water until you get the consistency you desire.
• Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  I generally use a good couple of tablespoons of kosher salt to season this sauce.

For Chicken:

• Preheat oven to 375 on convection or 400 on bake.

 

• Remove neck, liver, etc. and completely rinse chicken.  Dry thoroughly (the skin will not crisp if it’s wet).
• Generously salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken.  Halve a lemon and place in cavity.
• Rub Vegetable Oil all over the skin of the chicken.  Sprinkle generous amount of salt and pepper all over the oiled chicken.
• Place in roasting pan and place chicken in preheated oven.
• Roast chicken until internal temperature reaches around 155 degrees in the thick part of the thigh.  Alternately, roast until the juices run clear (around 1hr and 15 minutes or so for a 4-5 lb. chicken).
• Once done, remove from oven and tent with foil.  Allow to rest for at least 20-30 minutes before you carve the chicken.

For Hash:

• Blanch corn in boiling salted water for around 3 minutes.  Remove corn and place immediately in an ice bath to stop the corn from cooking any further.
• Once cooled, dry corn and take corn kernels off the ears.  Then run your knife up and down the empty ear of corn to remove the milky corn remnants.
• Chop onion to the approximate size as a kernel of corn.
• Chop tomato to around the same size.
• Heat a pan over medium high heat for 3 or 4 minutes.  Add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil and place onions in pan.  Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Cook until the onions start to brown, approximately 3 or 4 minutes.
• Add corn.  Add additional vegetable oil if needed to keep the vegetables moving in the pan.  Stir occasionally allowing the corn to brown, approximately 2-4 minutes more.
• Remove mixture from heat and place in bowl.  Add tomatoes to the corn and onion mixture.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

 

For Spinach:

• Place washed spinach in same pan as you cooked the corn mixture while still hot.  Reduce heat to low and cook spinach until just wilted, around 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Remove spinach from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper and place in bowl.  If spinach is very wet, dry it with a paper towel.  If not, then it’s ready to be served.

• Drizzle olive oil over the spinach (optional)

 

To Serve:

Carve chicken. Take two corn tortillas and place on plate one tortilla on top of the other. Add some spinach. On top of spinach, spoon over good amount of corn hash. Add the chicken on top of that. Spoon sauce/salsa over the whole layered mix. Top with queso fresco. Garnish with all or some of the garnish items listed above.