8 hours ago, quiet1 said:
‘I wish to know more about this tortilla lasagna IP concoction. It sounds right up our alley.
It's a work in progress, but in general we think it's worth continuing to develop. The basic ingredients are
- tortillas (I've tried both wheat and corn)
- chopped onions
- boneless-skinless chicken (we've been using breast), cut into chunks about 3/4 - 1" (bite) size
- green chiles of your preferred heat level, roasted, skinned, seeded to your level of patience, and chopped to about 1/4" (what you'd get out of a can)
- grated cheddar cheese (or other cheese of your liking)
- a small amount of cooking oil,
- spices such as cumin and oregano, possibly paprika, salt if you wish (we haven't)
- liquid such as the chile juice, if yours provide enough, or else chicken broth,
- and possibly
- cooked pinto beans. I didn't use them this time in the layered dish. I don't think I have in other attempts, but my notes are unclear.
There is no need to cook the chicken first. The first time I tried this, I started with chicken breast I'd sous-vided until lightly cooked but still pink, and I only pressure-cooked for 11 minutes at high pressure. The chicken was overdone. Twice since then I've used raw chicken and cooked for longer time, with better results.
Here is what I did this time. I'll get to lessons learned at the end, so you don't need to repeat my mistakes!
Cut the chicken into large but bite-sized chunks, and season with cumin, oregano, possibly paprika or smoked paprika, salt if you wish. Set that aside while you chop the rest.
Chop the onions into fairly small chunks - say, 1/4" - 1/2" dice. This is not a precision cooking exercise, so no need to fuss over the precise size. Mix that into the chicken. I didn't take a picture of that stage.
Chop the roasted, peeled, and seeded chiles. Use the type of chile that gives you the heat level you prefer. This photo is of just before I started chopping. As you see, I'm not a perfectionist about the seeds!
Place a small amount of oil in the pot - enough to film the bottom of the pot so nothing sticks. Place a layer of tortillas over the bottom. So far this involves tearing them so they'll fit. (Corn tortillas tend to be too small to cover the bottom, and wheat tortillas that we buy are too big.)
Place a good-sized layer of the chicken/onion mixture on the tortilla, and put chiles on top of that. Put another layer of tortillas, then chicken/onion and chiles. Do the same thing again, until you're out of filling. Top with another tortilla layer. Pour in the liquid around the edges. Top the whole thing with a goodly layer of shredded cheese.
Pressure cook on high for 1/2 hour, then natural release. (This took less than 10 minutes, because the pot was quite full. In a full-sized pot, or with the pot less full, I'd let it sit for 10 minutes than do a quick release.) Cut down through the pot so it comes out in layers. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and more grated cheese if you wish. If you want to get fancy you could shred lettuce or chop some greens (cilantro, parsley) to scatter over the top, but I haven't done that.
The first times I did something like this I was aiming for an enchilada casserole ("hot dish!" my darling says 
) and used wheat tortillas. I was working with bags of prepared chiles I'd gotten from Hatch. I dumped ALL the juice in. It was too damp. By the way - be very careful to read the package label, or you'll blow your head off when you mistake hot chiles for medium!
This time I was trying for the lasagne-like layers. In order to keep them firm I used a solid layer of tortillas - corn, this time - overlapping each other. I didn't have much juice from the chiles, so I supplemented it with about a cup of chicken broth. The whole thing was too dry. Adding cheese or salsa to the layers, using more liquid, or (mostly likely) doing fewer layers so there's more filling per tortilla layer will be my next attempt.
I'm sure there are ways to improve this aside from the issue of dryness. Would a light precook of the tortillas develop the masa flavor more? Sauteeing the onions first would certainly provide a different flavor. However, I was all about ease here - and except for the dryness, we were pretty happy with it. Salsa and sour cream at the table helped with the dryness.
Comments, suggestions and questions are welcome.
