Revisiting a long-forgotten recipe

 

One of my pet peeves is dry chicken. If I’m going to eat a chicken breast (I really prefer the thigh), I either want it pounded thin or covered with a sauce. Christian does the pounding thin better than I do, and I usually leave things like piccata to him. But the other night I had four skinless, boneless chicken breast halves. Right there, to me, you have the dilemma—boring! Did I say I also prefer skin-on, bone-in chicken because it stays moist and is more flavorful?

So there I was, thumbing through recipes (yes, mine are almost all still print) with those chicken breast pieces staring at me. When I came to green chile chicken breasts I was lukewarm about the idea, but Jordan and Christian really like dishes with green chiles. I surprised myself--it was delicious!

Green Chile Chicken Bake

Four skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

One 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

One 4 oz. can green chiles

½ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. each salt and pepper

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Let the cream cheese soften to room temperature. In a bowl, mix cream cheese, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Then stir in green chiles.

Lay the chicken breasts flat in a baking dish. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over each piece. Don’t aim for a thin spread—pile on as much as you can. Top with grated Monterrey Jack.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, watching that cheese doesn’t burn—it should be brown and crusty when you serve it.

Serve with rice or tortillas. We actually had asparagus—some of the thickest asparagus stalks I’ve ever seen, which I thought was really wrong since spring is the time we get those tender, thin new shoots. Christian, however, was delighted—he likes the thick stalks. And sauteed in a little butter, they had lots of flavor and hit the mark between crisp and tender just right.

Warning: eat heartily, because the chicken does not keep well. The next day, for lunch, it was once again a dry piece of chicken, with fleeting hints of green chiles.

Guacamole with feta

Want to serve something special with it on the side? Try adding crumbled feta to your guacamole. Make guac the way you usually would with a couple of good-sized avocados, tomato, red onion, lemon, salt, and pepper. Then stir in about a quarter cup of crumbled feta. Sit back and wait for the raves.