Cinco de Mayo: Tostadas De Tinga De Pollo

Greg and I have a thing for celebrating Cinco de Mayo, though we have no links whatsoever to Mexico. It's a good weekend to kick off summer, even if summer is still six weeks away. In Ontario, the heat comes early and while there is no guarantee, there is always a good possibility the weather will be warm enough for an outdoor party in early May.

I spent a few hours slicing and dicing.

This year, we kicked the party up a notch. In March, we took a Mexican cooking class at The Urban Element, and learned how to cook some authentic Mexican dishes, not just fajitas from a box. We had some friends and neighbours over and the result of the party was that the main dish was a runaway hit. Credit is due to Maria Amalia Garza, the wonderful chef who taught our class. Here's the star dish, essentially a chicken and sausage stew:


Tostadas of Shredded Chicken with Tomatoes, Onions and Chorizo


4 skinless chicken thighs
1 large onion, cut in chunks
2 cloves garlic


1 tbsp oil
200 grams chorizo, crumbled
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp Mexican oregano
2 bay leaves
2 canned chipotle chiles, minced, with 1 tbsp adobo sauce
salt to taste
Tostadas, to serve


Garnish:
onion rings, thinly sliced
avocado slices


In a large pot, place chicken with onion and 2 garlic cloves and add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to cool, and reserve broth. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken.


In Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add chorizo and fry for about 5 minutes. Discard excess oil. Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add chicken, tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves, chiles and adobo sauce, and about 1 cup of the reserved broth.


Simmer, uncovered, until the flavours blend, about 15 minutes. Add more broth if mixture dries too much. Discard bay leaves and season to taste with salt.


Serve on tostadas, garnished with onion and avocado.


Serves 4.

Best food I've made in months.

Maria had recommended we find chorizo at Mercado, a Latin grocery store in Vanier. I checked my regular grocery store first, but with no luck there, Greg went to Mercado. The chorizo he bought was cured sausage, and I think the recipe intended for fresh, as the sausage we had did not crumble and we had to use the food processor to break it down. The taste was fabulous, however. I used regular oregano instead of Mexican oregano, and I'm glad I decided not to make the trip to Navan to get Mexican oregano at Chilly Chiles, because apparently the store is closed! That is too bad. Perhaps if I had supported them this wouldn't have happened. I found tostada shells at the grocery store in the Asian & Latin American aisle. The chipotle peppers were close by. Taco shells would also work, but would need to be heated first. The only issue I had with the recipe was that my mixture was way too runny. I tried to boil off the liquid, but to no avail, and we had to serve it with a slotted spoon.


Note that this is really, really messy to eat. Napkins are required. So, so delicious though. I had four on Saturday night, and four more Sunday morning for breakfast. On Sunday, the flavour was even better, and I added some sour cream on top (likely NOT traditional Mexican!).