Leftover Tacos!

*Sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures. My digital camera is broken, so all I had was my Blackberry.

For Thanksgiving this year, I roasted a smallish chicken. Even after sending my guest home with a plate and eating a couple of lunches with it, I still had plenty of leftover chicken. I'm sure many of y'all had this problem with turkey. So I decided to try and make a spicy tomatillo sauce to simmer the chicken and tortillas to make tacos!

Tortillas
These took longer than I anticipated, simply because I failed to remember the dough resting time. I'd recommend making these first. There are different types of flour tortillas, and the ones I made were thick and chewy (my preference).
2 cups of flour (low gluten, unbleached flour is supposedly best)
3/4 cup of lukewarm milk
a little less than a tablespoon of baking powder
a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil
a little salt
a dash of smoked paprika

Mix the salt, baking powder, paprika, and flour together. Add milk and vegetable oil and stir. It will start to be sticky and tough. Once all the flour is wet, use your hands to knead it. This was my favorite part. Once it's sufficiently kneaded, cover with a damp towel and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. This is when you can cut the vegetables for the tomatillo sauce.

After it has rested for 15 minutes, divide the dough into small balls, about 2.5 inches in diameter. Set those on a plate (not touching), cover and let rest for 20 minutes. This is when I made my margarita :-).

To cook them, I just heated up a pan on level 8 on my stove. I flattened the dough with my hands a little, and then used a rolling pin and flour to get it bigger and thinner. It should be preeettty thin. Then I plopped it onto the pan for about 30 seconds and watched it bubble (actually, while one tortilla was cooking, I started rolling out another one). Then I flipped it and let the other side cook for about 20 seconds. When the tortillas were done cooking, I put them on a plate, separated by napkins and covered with foil.















Tomatillo Sauce
This was awesome! As usual, I did not measure, so...sorry!
5 tomatillos, diced
1 medium sized jalapeno, seeded and sliced
the zest and juice of 1 lime
a handful of cilantro
some sliced garlic
about a cup and a half of chicken broth
cumin
smoked paprika

Puree the tomatillos, jalapeno, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic. Taste it and add more of whatever you like. The heat from the jalapenos diminishes a bit in the cooking process, so if it's too hot for you, don't worry. If it's just right for you --- add more. I wish I had added more. Pour the sauce into the chicken broth, and add cumin and smoked paprika. Add your shredded chicken or turkey (I had about 2 cups...maybe) and any skin you have (for flavor). I also threw in the leftover jalapeno. Let this simmer on low for awhile. Definitely while the tortillas are resting the 2nd time and while you're cooking them.

Jalapeno Rita
One half of a jalapeno, seeded and sliced -- I should warn you. This is pretty fkn spicy. Chill out on the jalapeno if you are sensitive.
the juice and zest of one and a half limes
the juice of half an orange (or..just orange juice)
Tequila
Triple Sec

Luckily my roommate is a bartender, and he was coaching me a bit on the real process of making a good margarita...plus he had bartender tools I could use. Crush the jalapeno in the lime juice, add your tequila, orange juice, and triple sec. Add a couple of pieces of ice, and shake with one of those metal shakers. Then strain into a glass of ice. If a couple of pieces of jalapeno make it through, no biggie. I put my margarita in the freezer til I was ready to drink it.

Once I finished cooking the tortillas, I loaded up a couple with the simmered chicken, sprinkled on some feta (cotija cheese or any other white cheese would work, but I wouldn't do cheddar). Then I nommed. SOO nommy. I had leftovers for lunch, and I'm about to have leftovers for dinner. Pretty stoked.