Chicken Milanesas with Chipotle Sauce

A little explanation is in order. A milanesa, before cooking, is any kind of meat steak that has been pounded flat. But cooked, it refers mostly to a thin veal steak covered in bread crumbs and fried in oil. In Spanish this kind of preparation is called "empanizado," which roughly translates as "breaded," if that's even a word. Anyway, a milanesa can also be made with flattened chicken breast, which is what I did.

I should mention by "bread crumbs" I mean a variety of options. The most common is simple "pan molido," which is ground up white bread toast. But there are others, like ground corn flakes, ground bran flakes and even, my favorite, ground wheat bran.

While I came up with this recipe by myself, I don't claim it as my own. Why not? because I'm trying to replicate and adapt someone else's recipe, someone I know and whom I miss very much.

This recipe is a bit more complex than my usual preparations. You have to cook the milanesas, make the salsa, then combine them and bake the result. But it's worth it.

Chipote chilies come either dried or canned. The canned version is "en adobo," meaning it's pickled in a thick, red juice. BTW there's no such thing as a fresh or natural chipotle. Chipotles are actually smoked jalapeños

Fresh out of the oven!

Ingredients:

4 Boneless flattened chicken breasts
2 Egg whites
About 2 Cups of bread crumbs (see above for details)
2.5 Teaspoons vegetable oil of your choice, preferably one without much flavor like canola or soy.
3 Red tomatoes
3-5 chipotle chilies and some juice from the can (if you're using smoked chipotles, take note they'll be much bigger)
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano (optional)
1/4 cup water.
40 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional)

To make the milanesas:

Take a large, preferably rectangular, serving plate and cover with bread crumbs. Put the egg whites in a bowl. Soak the chicken breasts individually in the egg whites and put it on the bread crumbs, turning it over to cover both sides. If needed, pour additional bread crumbs on top.

In a skillet or frying pan pour one (1) teaspoon of oil, and put it on high heat. When it's hot, cook the chicken breasts. Due to the size, you may have to cook them one by one. You should cook each until you see the top under the crumbs turning white, then flip it over to brown the other side. After cooking two, add another teaspoon of oil if needed, and cook the other two.

Put them on a paper kitchen towel over a large serving plate so the excess oil will be absorbed. In regular cooking, milanesas are nearly deep fried. But this is a low-fat cooking blog, after all. You can press them with paper towels, too, to drain more oil. The cut them into bite-sized pieces or strips.

To make the salsa:

Peel and seed the tomatoes and toss them in the blender with the onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano, vinegar water and chipotles. Liquefy the mixture. as always, this is the time to taste and adjust for spiciness.

Get one onion slice, tending toward thick, and saute it with 1/2 a teaspoon of oil in a saucepan until it's as flexible as cooked spaghetti, or you can do it on the skillet where you made the milanesas. Quarter the bigger rings and leave the smaller ones whole. Either way, pour the salsa from the blender in saucepan. Turn the heat on to low and let the salsa come to a slow boil. Once it boils, let it simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Now, in an oven-safe baking dish lay out a layer of mialnesas in bits and cover them with a layer of salsa. then sprinkle a little cheese and sour cream. Add a second layer of milanesas and, you guessed it, top it off with more salsa. Again sprinkle cheese and sour cream on top.

Put the dish in an oven preheated to 330 F for 30 minutes. All the cheese should melt. Let it cool and serve.

I suggest serving it along with Mexican rice, or any other sort of subtly-flavored rice you like.

Enjoy

Cottage Cheese Enchiladas

Finally :)

The point is to get fresh, wide tortillas. Otherwise making low-fat enchiladas is just too difficult. You see, most people will fry the tortillas. In low-fat cooking that's obviously a no-no. But plain tortillas tend to crumble when folded, especially if they're a day or two old.

I think it's best to give the recipe for the salsa separately, so:

Salsa
Ingredients:

14-18 green tomatoes without the husk
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
4 Serrano chilies, or other small green chilies.
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water.

Boil the tomatoes until they begin to change color, then place them in a bowl of ice water. Next quarter them and put them in the blender, removing the core first. Add the other ingredients tot he blender and liquefy the whole thing. You may want to do this in two batches unless you have a big blender. BTW this is the time to taste the salsa and see whether it's too hot or no hot enough, and to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Pour the salsa into a deep saucepan or pot and turn the heat on low. Let it come to a boil slowly, stirring from time to time. Let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from heat and set aside.

Enchiladas
Ingredients:

The salsa from the previous step
200 gr. Cottage cheese (or more)
70 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional; personally I don't like it in my enchiladas)
Fresh, wide, corn tortillas, as many as necessary
Chopped onion to taste

First the tortillas handle better when hot. My preferred method is to heat them on a comal on the stove. A comal is a flat, round piece of thin metal that holds 3 or four tortillas. If you don't have one, you can use a wide skillet, or even put them in the microwave for thirty seconds wrapped in a clean kitchen cloth.

So, heat the tortillas a few at a time. Carefully, as they're hot, spoon some cottage each on one and fold it in on itself. Place it on an oven safe glass baking dish with the fold side down. If it opens as soon as you let go, you have the wrong kind of tortilla. Repeat as many times as necessary. In the photo above there are about 8 enchiladas.

Next pour salsa generously on top, making sure to cover all the enchiladas. Try not to use it all, as a reserve may come in handy later. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top and, if you want, the sour cream as well.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300 degrees F (you may want to pre-heat the oven before you get started) for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve.

For serving, put freshly chopped onion on the table to sprinkle on top. Also perhaps additional salsa, as you should have some left over. If you reheat them in the microwave, BTW, they tend to dry out. When I reheat them I pour some salsa on them before putting them in the microwave, so they'll be moist when done.

I also like to serve them with Mexican rice. The recipe for that will be along shortly.

Sweet and sour cabbage, first draft

I thought this one up while at work late this afternoon. I've tried some sweet and sour recipes before, but was disappointed with the results. This one comes close to meeting my expectations, but it's not all it could be yet. Think of it as first draft.

Ingredients:

1/2 A head of green cabbage, shredded
1/3 Onion, quartered
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup chicken broth (Ok, I used a cup of hot water and one cube of low sodium, low fat chicken bullion)
3 Tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
4 1/2 Tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup Ketchup (I used low-sugar ketchup)
2 Tablespoons Splenda (you can use sugar in the same proportion)
Black pepper to taste
1 Teaspoon sesame seed oil
3 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

First do the sauce. In a bowl mix the chicken broth (cold or warm, not hot), ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar. Whisk until you can't see lumps of ketchup. Taste to see if it's sour enough. if it isn't, add more vinegar (carefully, you don't want it too sour). Add the Splenda and whisk again. Taste again to check if the sweet and sour balance is ok. if not, adjust as needed by adding more sweetener or vinegar. Just be careful not to mess it up, or to add too much liquid. Set it aside.

Heat the oil in a pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the cabbage, snow peas and soybean sprouts. Sprinkle with pepper, if you want, and stir well. Stir-fry for ten to fifteen minutes, or to the point where you think the veggies are soft enough.

Reduce the heat to minimum and add the sauce (it won't hurt to give it a last whisk). Stir well so everything gets coated. You may need to toss it like a salad. Let it simmer for three minutes and add the corn starch dissolve din water. Stir/toss well again, insuring everything gets well-drenched in sauce. Let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, remove from heat and serve.

I need, and I will,make some improvements. For one thing I should add sliced carrots and pineapple bits in syrup (which would alter the sweetener amounts). It might also serve for sweet and sour meats like chicken or pork.

Enjoy!

Stir-fried Red Cabbage with Soy Sauce

Sometimes I'll go to the grocery store and just pick up some vegetables I think will go well together. This is one such result. You may notice it's similar to my cabbage soup. That's no coincidence. I tend to try similar things from time to time.

Again I used jícama in this recipe. And again it's not essential.You can skip it or use a substitution, like celery, or even mushrooms if you don't want more crunchy veggies.

Ingredients:

200 grs. red cabbage shredded
100 grs. soybean sprouts
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
100 grs. snow peas whole
100 grs. jícama, cut into short strips.
1/4 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
3.5 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1/2 teaspoon vinegar (any kind, but white sugar cane vinegar works best)
The juice of one lime
Sesame seed oil
Ground black pepper to taste

Heat a few drops of oil in a pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and stir fry or saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and sprinkle some pepper. You may want to add some more oil in this step. if you do, move the onion and garlic to the side and add the oil to the center of the pan or wok.

In a cup mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar and lime juice. Add it to the veggies before they're too soft. Stir well and continue cooking until you achieve the desired softness for your vegetables.

A good side for this dish is curry rice, which you can see on the picture. I'll post that recipe tomorrow. Or try plain, boiled white rice if you like it.