recipe – boojie enchilada lasagna

People get way too butt-hurt these days that I wouldn’t be surprised someone calls me out on this for not being “authentic” enough. (Try and post a homemade carbonara recipe with turkey bacon on Instagram and watch the backlash). Well you know what, I don’t give a shit. Cooking is supposed to be something fun, where you can concoct new recipes based off what you know already but with a new twist. And that’s what I’m going to continue to do.

What makes it boojie? I guess because it took me way too long to prepare for a Crockpot dish, and I essentially dirtied every pot and bowl in my kitchen in the process. It’s definitely not a quick easy dinner, but I think it was worth the process.

I’d like to note that I went into this with no recipe inspiration and no plan. Up until this photo, I didn’t even plan on using chicken (was gonna try a vegetarian version, but like, who were we kidding).

So I took each step (or layer of the dish) individually and did what I do best – improvise. Cooked the chicken breast until no longer pink, and kept the remaining fat in the pan.

Now becomes the fun part. Do you have about 1/4 cup of fat rendered from the chicken? If so, and you don’t mind having a slightly fattening dish, then great – move along. If not, I’d suggest adding enough oil to equal about 1/4 cup. Add the same amount of flour, and make the roux. Once the ball forms, add in the entire can of chipotle sauce and mix. Fill the same empty can of chipotle sauce with water, and continue to thin it out.

Dump the chicken in the sauce and season to taste. Set the pot to the side.

In a separate pan, saute the chopped onions. Once slightly translucent, add the bell peppers and cook for a few minutes before adding the garlic. Remove all veggies from pan and set aside.

To the clean pan, add 2 tb of butter/oil until melted, then add 2 tb of flour to make the roux. Slowly add about a cup of milk in intervals (maybe like 5 times) while continuously whisking until it’s thick enough to coat your spoon.

Judge me all you want, but I’m too boojie to use store-bought shredded cheese (aka sawdust), but too lazy to shred my own cheese. So I buy deli sliced cheese because it’s easy and convenient.

Since I’m going all out here, why not throw a little spinach in the mix? Added some chopped cilantro too because why tf not.

Now time for the assembly – Lay out each of the layers.

Depending on the size of your Crockpot, you may use more or less than the amount of wraps I used – 12. Because of the oblong shape, I layered it with one tortilla one layer, 2 tortillas side by side the second, and continued thusly. The actual order of the ingredients themselves don’t matter, but I try to keep the cheese on the top.

Throw it in on low overnight or about 6+ hours. If you see I kind of curled the excess tortillas over in on itself, almost like a crust.

And there you have it – my boojie way-too-difficult, over-the-top, multi-ethnic Crockpot dish. Pour yourself a glass of rosé, girl, because you deserve it after all that.

 

—INGREDIENTS—

• 1.5 lb or so of chicken breast, chopped in bite-size pieces
• 3/4 lb of melting cheese of your choice (used American yellow)
• 8 oz jar of chipotle chilis, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• Handful of garlic, minced
• Half a bunch of spinach, chopped loosely
• Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 packs of tortillas depending how large Crockpot is (I used 12 multi-grain 8inch wraps)
• Cumin
• Ground coriander
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Red pepper flakes
• Oil of your choice
• About 1/4 cup flour, see below
• About 1/4 cup milk, see below

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil or so on medium high. Season chicken with cracked pepper and garlic powder, and throw pieces in when oil is hot. Cook chicken until no longer pink, and set to the side.
2. There should be some residual fat and oil in the pan. Eyeball it and if it looks like about 1/4 cup, perfect – move to the next step. If not, I’d suggest adding some oil to equal that amount. Now, you really don’t have to. You can keep the amount in the pot to save fat, but you’ll have a thinner sauce. Either way, the amount of oil needs to be the same as the flour for the next step.
3. Add 1/4 cup flour to the fat on medium heat (or make sure the amounts are equal), and stir until a ball begins to form. It should be almost paste-like.
4. Very slowly, add the chipotle sauce a few spoonfulls at a time. The paste should slowly loosen into a sauce. But you need to do this very slowly to avoid lumps. Continue to add the entire can of sauce until it’s empty, then fill it with water, and add that slowly as well. You can adjust the sauce (if it doesn’t need as much water, leave it; or make it thinner by adding more water). It’s up to you, but it should have the consistency of an enchilada sauce.
5. Season sauce with a sprinkle of cumin and ground coriander. If salt or pepper is needed, add as well. Throw the cooked chicken in to mix and set to the side.
6. In a new pan, add a little bit of oil and saute the chopped onion. Cook until quite translucent, between 5-10 minutes on medium but stirring frequently.
7. In the same pan, add the green bell peppers. Continue to stir for about 5 minutes more, or until they feel soft enough. Then add the garlic lastly and cook on higher for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove veggies to the side and keep any oil in the pan.
8. You’ll need about 2 tablespoons total of fat, so add oil (or butter like I did) if need. Add another 2 tablespoons of flour, and make another roux on medium heat. Just like with the chipotle sauce, you’ll need to add the liquid in slowly – this time is milk. About a cup of milk later, you should have a bechamel (adjust liquid if need).
9. Once the beshamel can coat your spatula, turn heat on low and add the cheese. I used sliced American cheese from my local deli, because I hate the shredded bullshit in the grocery store, but totally your call. Melt the cheese into the sauce and keep stirring until mixed.
10. Add the loosely chopped spinach to the cheese sauce and stir until just wilted. Season to taste, then throw in some chopped cilantro. Set to side.
11. ASSEMBLY TIME! Have everything set up – Crockpot, chipotle chicken sauce, sauteed veggies, cheese spinach sauce, and tortillas.
12. First lightly grease the base and sides (or use the chipotle sauce – your call). Depending on the size of your Crockpot and tortillas, you may to need to layer them differently than I did.
    1. One tortilla
    2. Chicken chipotle sauce
    3. Sauteed veggies
    4. Cheese spinach sauce
    5. Two tortillas to even it out
    6. Continue in this pattern
    7. And the very top layer I pulled over any extending sides of the tortilla.
13. Turn Crockpot on low for about 6 hours (really doesn’t need to cook anything, you just want it to meld together).