chicken, black bean, and chipotle torta

So I have these little pitas from the Dekalb market in Atlanta. They are about four inches, and just a little too bready for me to eat like other pitas (with hummus and stuff) so I decided to try and make them into little sandwich pouches. Great success.

I really gotta work on my food photog if I want to be the next PW

Here's how it will read on my restaurant's menu: Shredded chicken slow cooked in tomatoes and peppers with black bean puree, fresh pico de gallo and chipotle spread in a tasty sandwich pouch. You'd order that, right? So here's how I made it.

shredded mexi-chicken
This stuff is delicious. Hayley must be some sorta genius. It can be made in a crock pot or in a dutch oven with the oven on very low. I think mine was on about 200 degrees. I used four thighs, but I'm sure breasts work just as well. I think dark meat is better when you reheat it, and if I want to buy the organic stuff, which looks a heck of a lot tastier than the other option, breasts are a bit out of my price range.

Put some chicken in the pot. Pour in a can of Rotel (I used the hot kind) and a can of diced green chilis. Turn on crockpot/put in oven and walk away. Come back several hours later, when the chicken is falling apart, and shred it.

black bean puree
I made this recipe for black bean puree. I halved it and it still made a ton. Its basically just a paste of onion, garlic, black beans, cumin, and chili powder. Then you add yogurt. The yogurt is absolutely genius. Makes it the consistency of good refried beans without leaving you feeling too guilty about eating it for every meal or like you are in the recovery stages of being overserved. My only suggestions would be to add slightly less yogurt than it calls for. Before you add the yogurt, the mixture's a real thick paste, and the yogurt thins it out just a tad too much for my liking. Also, I don't know that the marjoram is necessary. I think cilantro would be just as, if not more, tasty.

pico de gallo
I make pico just like PW told me to in her cookbook. Chop tomatoes, onion, jalepeño, and cilantro. Keep them separated until you have everything in the bowl, so you can make sure they are all in equal proportions. Squeeze on lime juice until everything is nice and juicy. Add a little salt. Voila! I also chopped up and added radishes to mine, but some people might not be in to that.

chipotle spread
This stuff is what dreams are made of. Basically it's just three parts lebne or yogurt, one part homemade mayo (see below), and one part chipotles in adobo. Lebne is basically just really sour, thick yogurt and its awesome. But regular or greek yogurt is yummy in it too. And I just arbitrarily scoop in the chipotle can and smush up whatever I pull out into the sauce. If there are some obscenely large chunks left, I'll take them out, but generally they are just deliciousness anyway.

homemade mayo
I was never a huge fan of mayonaise. Hated it as a little kid, liked it for a while, then went back to disliking it. Then I went to Ecuador and realized that I really like fresh mayo, not so much the stuff in a jar. And I know its kinda terrible for you, but like Food Rule #39 says, "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself".

In a blender, mix two egg yolks with a quarter teaspoon salt and an eighth teaspoon sugar. Add a tablespoon and a half lemon juice. Make sure its all mixed up. Stream in a half cup veg oil slowly while the blender's abuzzin.

la torta
I usually keep bread products frozen cause I don't eat them quick enough. So, I just pop a pita in the toaster oven. When its warm, cut it open leaving one side intact. Slather on some chipotle spread (I didn't put as obscenely much as that picture makes it look. This ain't no BigMac). Stuff in some chicken. Blop on some black bean puree. Then pile up the pico. Enjoy.