I’ve been in a bit of a rut for new and exciting dinner ideas, mainly due to time. It’s the middle of spring, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my garden planting, in the yard weeding, clearly branches that fell in the winter, and taking a weekend trip to Ely to put out game cameras. Which doesn’t leave a lot of time to plan and look for new meals. Thank goodness for some dinner idea mailing lists like Cook’s Country Dinner Tonight. The thing is I’d signed up a couple time but the recipes didn’t come – not sure if it was my spam folder or what (although I checked it), so finally, I sign up again and the first recipe I get was a Tomatillo Chicken Tostada.
It was perfect! It called for rotisserie chicken but I had some leftover chicken from a whole chicken we grilled as well as some home canned tomatillo salsa from last year. The only problem was the refried beans. I don’t like refried beans but knew it needed a creamy element like that to act as glue for the rest of the food. But then, we were watching Guy’s Grocery Games and one of the teams made tostadas with a black bean and cream puree. I like black beans, maybe I could try this on the tostada? So armed with my twist on these, I pulled together the Tomatillo Chicken Tostadas in a around 30 minutes.
I figured that I would like them, I wasn’t prepared to LOVE them though. The black bean puree was rich with the cream, and paired great with the tang of the tomatillo salsa I used to warm the chicken. The corn and tomatoes provided a nice pop of freshness. This one was a winner and a great way to break my dinner rut.
Here’s what you need:
Dinner cooks quickly so the first thing to do is cut up your toppings. I used shredded iceberg lettuce, fresh sweet corn cut off the cob, tomatoes and cilantro.
In a large 12 inch skillet, heat a little vegetable oil and saute one chopped onion until it’s translucent and lightly golden.
Add in some pulled chicken – either from a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken from another night. You could cook some chicken for the dish too, but the under 30 minute beauty of this dish is having pre-cooked chicken. And pour in 8 oz of tomatillo salsa. I used some homemade salsa I canned last fall. I planted 9 tomatillo plants this year because I liked the salsa and green enchilada sauce I made so much – if things work out right, I’ll post that recipe after the harvest.
Mix in the chicken and salsa then heat until it is nice and warm. My homemade salsa is relatively thick so this didn’t take long, some store-bought salsa may take 5 or so minutes to simmer down.
Meanwhile in a small pot, heat one can of drained and rinsed black beans with about half cup of heavy whipping cream until it comes to a simmer.
Puree it with an immersion blender – you could mash the beans too but I wanted it pretty smooth. You can thin with more warm cream if you want.
Next we just assemble the tostadas. Spread some black bean puree on the tostada.
Now add some of the chicken and salsa mixture.
Finally top the tostada with a drizzle of sour cream, sweet corn, tomato, lettuce and cilantro. The finishing touch is a squeeze of lime.
Now, there is no dainty way to eat a tostada. Just pick it up and take a big bite. Maybe lean over the table a little bit just to be safe.
Enjoy!
- ½ T vegetable oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 ½ c pulled leftover pulled or rotisserie chicken
- 1 c tomatillo salsa
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼-1/2 c whipping cream
- 4-6 corn tostadas
- 1 ear corn, kernels cut off the cob
- 1 roma tomato, chopped
- Sour cream
- Cilantro, chopped
- Iceberg lettuce, shredded
- Lime wedges
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion until translucent and lightly golden. Add chicken and salsa and stir to combine. Heat until salsa is thick and chicken is warm.
- Meanwhile, heat black beans and cream in a small saucepan to a simmer. Puree with an immersion blender, you can thin with a little extra warm cream if needed.
- Build the tostada. Spread tostada with black bean puree, top with chicken, drizzle with sour cream, garnish with corn, tomato, lettuce and cilantro.Finish with a squeeze of lime.
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