For those of you who have never experienced Chicken Tinga, you are in for a divine treat. I first had it at a pretty decent Mexican restaurant here in Colorado, La Sandia. It's not your typical Tex-Mex-melted-cheese-and-refried-beans kind of place; more along the lines of high Mexican, where you can have a specialty sipping tequila while enjoying a nice roasty-salsa.
As mentioned before, my brother Scott is a perfect and willing guinea pig to my cooking adventures, and it just so happened he would be joining us for dinner on Tuesday. Perfect!
Chicken tinga is probably best described as Mexican barbecue, but it really doesn't do it justice. To make it involved a few simple steps (and a couple of minor modifications to the recipe, no offense Brent!). First, you pick a few of the biggest, roundest, most-delicious-looking tomatoes your local grocer has to offer. You take them home, slice them in half, and throw them under the broiler until they are nicely charred. While charring, take a few chicken breasts and cover them with water, add some onion and spices (don't forget the oregano and cloves) and poach until cooked through-- about 25 minutes. While the chicken cools, you blend up your tomatoes (charred skin and all, the best part, really!) and start to cook it up with some chipotle peppers garlic, vinegar, a bit of brown sugar (are you digging the barbecue influence) and a few other key ingredients (namely, onion and garlic) and cook it down into a delicious, thick and syrupy sauce.
Shred your chicken, toss it in with the tinga, let them hang out and marry a bit, and voila! Toss the chicken in there, and serve on gently toasted corn tortillas with some shredded cotija cheese. I promise, you will NOT be disappointed.
To be honest, I really wasn't even sure that Chicken Tinga wasn't something they made up to sound interesting and authentic, until I discovered it on my dear friend Stan's Facebook page. His master-chef-partner Brent (whose cooking I've been blessed to experience first hand when they lived in San Francisco several years ago) has a great website and blog and posted a recipe for said dish. I quickly printed it, jotted a shopping list, and was ready to blaze out of work and jump in front of the stove.
As mentioned before, my brother Scott is a perfect and willing guinea pig to my cooking adventures, and it just so happened he would be joining us for dinner on Tuesday. Perfect!
Chicken tinga is probably best described as Mexican barbecue, but it really doesn't do it justice. To make it involved a few simple steps (and a couple of minor modifications to the recipe, no offense Brent!). First, you pick a few of the biggest, roundest, most-delicious-looking tomatoes your local grocer has to offer. You take them home, slice them in half, and throw them under the broiler until they are nicely charred. While charring, take a few chicken breasts and cover them with water, add some onion and spices (don't forget the oregano and cloves) and poach until cooked through-- about 25 minutes. While the chicken cools, you blend up your tomatoes (charred skin and all, the best part, really!) and start to cook it up with some chipotle peppers garlic, vinegar, a bit of brown sugar (are you digging the barbecue influence) and a few other key ingredients (namely, onion and garlic) and cook it down into a delicious, thick and syrupy sauce.
Shred your chicken, toss it in with the tinga, let them hang out and marry a bit, and voila! Toss the chicken in there, and serve on gently toasted corn tortillas with some shredded cotija cheese. I promise, you will NOT be disappointed.
My hats off to the 'recipier', as my brother Scott says. Brent and Stan, if this is the Yucatan, better make some room in the guest room for us... we're on our way!!!
