Fried Taquitos, Tacos and Tostadas Night - Using Up Leftover Green Chile Sauce And I Found La Tortilla Factory Tortillas!

Some economies of scale are necessary these days for several reasons. One, I am not working full time, so we're not officially DINKs with a yuppie-like food budget; and two, the new pad has a rather smallish fridge. I am training myself to look for what we already have while menu planning, before rushing out to buy a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit.

I had to make up a batch of bland, very low fat food for the NEW PUPPY, Kagan, alias Jackie Grey, so I had picked up very lean hamburger and some chicken breasts to mix with rice. The store had a BOGO on boneless, skinless breasts. I usually cook with chicken thighs (MORE CHICKENY!!) so I am not used to dealing with the boobs. I tucked the second package away, and the other day I saw they carried La Tortilla Factory products, so I scored both green chile corn tortillas (yum) and soft, fluffy flour ones (super yum). I had frozen about half the batch of green chile sauce from the tamale night, so time for tacos!!!

I like both crunchy and soft tacos. The Colonel's favorites are crunchy, so I'm playing Dad tonight and will fry up some shells for him. And to really be Dad and because if you're going to have all that oil out anyway, why not taquitos? Dad made great shells and taquitos. My Substandard Mother, all 128 pounds of her, usually birded away at a small piece of toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast and barely seemed to eat the rest of the day, but come Taco Night, somehow she could tuck away a dozen of them.

Back then, the family tacos consisted of ground beef seasoned only with salt and pepper (there was that Taste Bud thing about Mom again), cheese (my sister and I crack up thinking "Colby cheese"!!!), iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. Dad would also cut up yellow onions and use some red hot sauce. Granddad was the most exotic taco-seasoner, using green chile hot sauce. I loved that stuff.

So, the spread, while tasty, was a tad boring. Then one Taco Night, Dad decided to try his hand at taquitos. Dad was in ironworking by then, so he had a lot of co-workers turning him onto Mexican specialties. He would bring home tamales, ceviche, posole, at all of which Mom would sneer. Those taste buds working overtime again.

We are garnishing with green onions, cotija cheese, salsa, guacamole and cilantro. And Cholula on the table of course.

Mangia!

Chicken Taquitos with Green Chile Sauce

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 cup Green Chile  sauce

3⁄4 cup vegetable oil

24 corn tortillas

oil (for deep frying)

1/2 cup crumbled queso Cotija, plus another ½ cup for toppings

salsa

guacamole

chopped green onions, cilantro, sliced radishes

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl combine chicken, green chile sauce and cheese. Mix well and set aside.

In a small skillet, heat oil. Use tongs to dip each tortilla in oil for about 5 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm.

Place 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture onto each tortillas. Roll tortillas as tightly as possible and hold closed with a toothpick.

Heat additional oil in skillet. Deep fry taquitos until browned (about 1-5 minutes depending on how crisp you want them). Drain on paper towel and serve with toppers of your choice.

Serve 2 taquitos per person.

To freeze: Prepare taquitos as directed. Allow to cool and place on a baking sheet. Freeze until firm and then transfer to a freezer bag.

To serve: Microwave to thaw and reheat.

Fried Taco Shells

Add additional oil to that used for taquitos so the oil is a couple of inches deep in skillet. Heat on high heat. Add one tortilla at a time with tongs. Coat on both sides in the oil and with the tongs make a bend in the middle of the tortilla. Continue holding the bend with your tongs and move the shell back and forth in the oil. After a minute or so, flip to the other side of the bend so that side can cook for a minute or so. Drain on paper towels.

As a reminder, here is the Green Chile Sauce Recipe:

Green Chile Sauce

1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed (10 to 12 medium)
Fresh, hot chile peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped (about 4 serranos or jalapenos)

4 large garlic cloves, peeled

1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons vegetable oil or 1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chicken broth

Salt