Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Back Pocket Balsamic Vinaigrette

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One of my most beloved mentors taught my family many a worthy lesson that we’ve incorporated into our routine over the years. One of his favorites lessons had to do with hospitality, both providing and receiving gestures of hospitality, and he taught it using what he called his back pocket pancake recipe.

Without going into the long winded story that Ed would inevitably tell whenever the topic came up, his principle points were that hospitality is an art that takes repetition and practice to do well, and that when a guest in someones home, you needed to graciously accept the gift of hospitality extended you and offer a kind, and thankful, gesture in return.

One of the ways he did so was via what he called his back pocket pancake recipe; despite possessing a smart phone with more computing power than on the Apollo spacecraft, he always carried in his wallet a dog-eared and well-worn piece of paper upon which he’d scrawled the recipe for a delicious buttermilk pancake recipe. He used to boast that he’d pulled the recipe out and made pancakes for his various hosts on five different continents over the years.

I still carry an image of his original recipe on my phone, and have taken to carrying a set of “back pocket” recipes with me where ever I travel, though I favor salad dressing recipes instead of buttermilk pancakes.

My reasoning is pretty damned simple; most people don’t take the time to stir together simple yet tasty – and healthy – salad dressings at home, and these salad dressings can pull double duty as marinades and / or slathers for grilled meats and vegetables.

The two back pocket dressing recipes I reach for most often are this very Back Pocket Balsamic Vinaigrette and probably our house favorite, this nifty Chile Lime Vinaigrette.

This balsamic dressing recipe is a cinch to whisk or shake together, uses ingredients almost everyone has in the pantry and fridge, and tastes like a million bucks. A couple of nights ago we were pressed for time one evening, and a quick recipe of this dressing made a simple baby spinach and bacon salad feel (and taste) like a date night meal fit for a king.

Three quick thoughts on ingredients – one, use a good quality, aged balsamic (avoiding ones with added sweeteners, caramel color additives, etc); aged balsamic vinegars develop sweetness naturally and you might not feel the need to add honey (or the sweetener of your choice) at all – we usually don’t.

Two, recognizing that the classic formula for a vinaigrette used to be four parts oil to one part vinegar, we prefer this recipe closer to a 2:1 ratio; experiment yourself and adjust. And three, play around with various mustards too – we love this recipe with a spicy, rustic, Creole-style mustard (like Zatarains).

By the way, we prefer the texture and viscosity of the dressing when it’s shaken or whisked together, using a blender to combine makes for a bit “stiffer” dressing.

1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
2-3 tsp dijon or whole grain mustard
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp good sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (fine)
1/2 to 3/4 cup good EVOO

Optional
1/2 tsp ground dried thyme
1 small shallot, minced
2 tbsp honey

Combine the vinegar, mustard, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the oil until the dressing is fully emulsified and smooth; you can combine in a blender – you’ll find it’s a little thicker (we prefer the hand-whisked consistency).

Another nifty trick for mixing this one is simply to combine all the ingredients in a small jar with a tight fitting lid and then shake, shake, shake until well combined.

Cheers.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: (Primal) Texas Style Picadillo

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Growing up in the panhandle of Texas back in the day I had several friends whose families made picadillo routinely at home; we ate it in tacos, in big bowls over rice on cold, blustery days, in tortilla wraps, and even stirred into scrambled eggs now and again.

With the official transition to astrological fall this week, it’s time to begin to rotate some tasty soups, stews, chiles, and picadillo onto the menu.

Picadillo (according to the experts and food historians) claims its roots in a number of latin American countries, though a Filipino residency mate argued that his version from back home was the very best. Being from the Southwest and unabashedly heavily biased toward Tex-Mex and the hodge-podge of culinary history that makes up Texas cuisine, I tend to think of the picadillo we’re used to enjoying as a dish originating in Mexico and other countries on further south.

Picadillo is one of those simple, almost peasant foods that varies from region to region and family to family, and the version below should as always be considered a simple framework to start from.

We’ve tweaked the version I remember from days in the Panhandle to make it more Primal and healthy eating friendly, easy changes like grass-fed ground beef, healthier oil, and sweet potatoes instead of the classic russet. We also think it’s immeasurably better with just a bit of dried ground ancho chile powder in the skillet, and my favorite dish from years ago was dressed up a little with the addition of a handful of peas (though you’ll see raisins in a number of recipes floating around out there as well.

Don’t forget a bit of chopped cilantro, diced avocado, and a spritz of fresh lime juice at bare minimum to finish this one off…

1 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
1-2 sweet potatoes of choice, peeled, 3/4-inch pieces
1 medium onion, small dice
1 medium poblano, stemmed, seeded, small dice
2-3 plum tomatoes, cored, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped OR
1-2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1 tbsp Diamond Crystal salt
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp ground dried ancho pepper (optional)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 cup peas, optional

To Finish
1/3 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and small stems
Sliced radishes
Diced fresh avocado
Crumbled cotija cheese (feta plays well too)
Fresh lime juice

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; now sauté the beef until browned but not fully cooked through (6-7 minutes). Remove the beef to a small bowl using a slotted spoon.

Back the heat down to medium, add the rest of the oil, and quickly sauté the potatoes until just beginning to brown (3-4 minutes); remove to a small plate and set aside.

Now add the onions, diced peppers, garlic, salt, cumin, and black and ancho peppers, stirring occasionally, and cook until the vegetables are just beginning to tenderize (4-5 minutes).

Add the beef (and any juices) back in, along with the stock and peas, and simmer for 15 minutes. Now add the potatoes back in, stir to mix, and simmer another 5-7 minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes and simmer another 3-5 minutes.

You’ll know you’re there when the beef is fully cooked, the potatoes are just tender, and just about all of the liquid has evaporated off. Taste for salt and cumin, stir in the cilantro at service, and finish with whatever add-ons you have on hand.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sunday Afternoon Roast Chicken

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When I was a wee lad visiting grandparents on the Texas Coast, now and again on a Saturday afternoon Ma-Ma (pronounced maw-maw) would walk down the block in Bay City to the corner grocery, replete with wooden floors and swinging screen doors out front that always banged shut behind us, and buy a fresh chicken or two from the cooler in the back.

She and the shop owner would chat about whose farm it came from and how fresh it was; she’d always insist on poking, prodding, and even sniffing the bird to ensure it met her standards. It would be wrapped in white butcher paper that was torn off a roll that seemed to my child eyes to be bigger than me, and then handed over the counter like a treasure.

We’d walk back to the house, she’d liberally salt and pepper it, rub it with a cut garlic clove, then place it in the fridge “to season” overnight, before roasting the next day in a hot oven for what seemed like forever but was just about an hour every time.

We’d fight over the crispy skin and wings, and gobbled with delight whatever piece we were granted at the table later. Damn, that was good.

Roasting chickens at home isn’t rocket science, though we home cooks sometimes try to make it insanely more complicated than it need be; quite frankly none of us really need to deviate from Ma-Ma’s recipe from now over 50 years ago to make great roast chicken at home.

There are a few tips and tricks you need to keep in mind however.

One, you need to track down the best damn bird you can find. Your Sunday Afternoon Roast Chicken deserves more than the tired, mass-produced bird frozen in the poultry bin at your big box grocer; find a farmers market, coop, local farmer, or other vendor who sells real, pasture or yard raised chickens who’ve eaten more than just grain day in and day out (chickens are omnivores you know…). I guarantee that bird will taste more chicken-y that any you’ll find (ever) at the big box.

Drier birds (before roasting) make for crispier skin, so grab your roaster the day before, pat it dry, season to your liking, and throw it in the fridge to let those seasonings work their magic and the skin the dry a bit. I like to truss mine at this point to make the cook even easier.

By the way, you’ll read a ton of recipes that suggest adding vegetables, a bit of stock, or even herbs to the pan when roasting; my chicken mentor thinks that’s a mistake – anything that adds moisture makes for less crispy skin given the steam that’s produced during the cook.

And while a case might be made for a slow cook followed by a blast of heat at the end to crisp up skin, most of the chefs that I pestered for their chicken roasting thoughts suggested just firing the oven to 425 and roasting away (roughly an hour for a 4 pounder) until the meat around the thigh / leg joint is 175-176. Ma-Ma did it that way, and most of us are looking to make the best damn food we can as efficiently (and simply) as possible.

Ma-Ma was always careful to save the rendered chicken fat – you should as well, it’s delicious, and making a pot of homemade stock with the picked bones is child’s play simple.

4-5 pound chicken, see note above about finding the best bird
Great salt
Fresh ground pepper
Spices of your choice

The day before you plan to roast this prime poultry, pat it dry, season it at minimum with salt and pepper, place it on a plate and throw it in the fridge uncovered. Leave it alone, you’re wanting the seasonings to work their slow magic and the skin to begin to dry out (the drier the better for crispy skin).

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425, and slide the bird in on a baking tray for roughly an hour.

Start checking (or use a continuous read, ovenproof thermometer) at about 50 minutes; we’re looking for the temperature at the leg/thigh junction to be about 176 when the bird comes out.

I like to let the bird rest for 10-15 minutes before carving, longer if I’m going to pick the meat for chicken salad, sandwiches, or other recipes, and make damn sure you save both the chicken fat that renders off as well as the bones for stock.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Summer Berry and Ginger Frogurt Bark

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To no one’s surprise, given that we’re in the “dog days” of summer here in North Texas, it’s been hot as hades most days around our camp, prompting sunrise workouts, zealous hydration, and even a change in our normal summer menu rotation of late.

One of the treats or snacks we’ve been reaching for lately (you could even officially call this one a dessert too) has been this ridiculously simple Summer Berry and Ginger Frogurt Bark. Granted, this isn’t a novel concept, and you’ve no doubt seen something similar before.

For those of you who include full fat dairy in your weekly routine, it’s a great way to find some naturally sweet relief from summer’s pounding heat. We’ve tried it with all sorts of fresh summer fruit, though we keep coming back to this strawberry, blueberry, and ginger – yep, ginger – combination.

Strawberries and blueberries are at their prime these days, and somewhat surprisingly both fruits hold up very well to the (relatively) short window of time they spend in the freezer. The real surprise is how well the fresh ginger pairs with the blueberries – it’s amazing – though my lovely wife doesn’t so much care for it with the strawberries.

You can of course use any fruit that suits you here, though you’ll want to make sure you use fresh fruits and not frozen to finish your frogurt bark, and we like this topped with several tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes too (I was out when this batch came together).

This is a great project to do with kids (or grandkids) – the skills required amount to stirring, spreading, and sprinkling chopped fruit around, and whenever we serve this to families with kids (of all ages) it vanishes in a heartbeat.

3 cups unflavored/plain full-fat Greek yogurt
2-4 tbsp honey, maple syrup, your choice of sweetener (optional)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Small pinch of good salt
1/2 to 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced thin
1/2 to 1 cup fresh blueberries
1-2 inches fresh ginger, peeled, chopped small (see note)

Optional
Other fruits of course
3-4 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes

Line a full sized (home full sized, it’s actually a half sheet in the restaurant world) baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Stir together the yogurt, sweetener of choice if using, and vanilla until well combined, then spread evenly over the parchment paper (you’re shooting for about 1/4-inch thick layer here).

Spread the fruit artfully atop the yogurt base; note that in the example I’ve imaged here, we chose to only add the ginger to the blueberries – ginger and blueberries play really well together. Sprinkle with the coconut flakes if using, the slide into the freezer for at least 3 hours until the yogurt is tight and firm.

Slice or break into pieces and serve promptly; will store in an airtight container or bag for up the 3 months so they say, ours never lasts more than a day or two.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Avocado Strawberry Salsa

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Now and again we stumble upon a flavor combination that just works.

It’s usually something that’s more simple than complicated, and often ends up being a riff on some food item that we’ve enjoyed for years and just decided to tweak a bit to see what happens.

Like many of you, we’ve enjoyed our share of fresh fruit salsa over the years. The food pairing that first comes to mind relates to our love of grilled fish tacos, and fish tacos scream for a great, spicy as hell, luscious fruit salsa, along with a mouth-puckering, vinegar-based slaw.

Hailing from Texas, peach salsas tend to dominate the fruit salsa landscape in these parts, but time spend in Western Washington back in the day taught us the potential of fruit salsas based on many other tasty fruits, including juicy summer strawberries.

There are lot of great strawberry salsa recipes floating around out there, though a few weeks ago I started playing around with adding avocado (diced) to a couple of different fruit salsa preps. After a number of tasty but texturally weak attempts, it became overtly clear that a barely ripe, pretty damned firm avocado was needed here, to maintain shape and preserve texture in the salsa mixture but still bring a strong avocado flavor statement to the table.

Adding avocado also calls for more heat (use your pepper of choice, but we like a combination of serrano and jalapeño here) and a bit more lime juice than you might have used before.

My lovely wife fought me for the last spoon of this recipe a few days back (dammit, I’m not kidding about that), and insisted this was the best danged fruit salsa she’d ever imagined.

Hot damn, that’s pretty high praise around our camp. Try this one while summer’s best strawberries are in…

Zest and juice from 2 medium or one large lime
1-2 tsp honey or maple syrup
1/4 tsp (or to taste) good salt

2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled, diced
1/2 large firm avocado, diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 medium jalapeño (or serrano) peppers, stemmed, seeded, diced
2/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Optional
Grind or two of fresh ground pepper
Sprinkle of good paprika
Pinch of minced fresh garlic or granulated garlic

Get started by zesting at least one lime and juicing both; combine the honey or maple syrup and salt with the lime juice and set aside.

Now hull and dice the strawberries, dice the onion and jalapeño, and chop the cilantro. Stir all three into the lime juice, coating the strawberries well. Now prep the avocado and stir into the mixture, again coating the ingredients thoroughly with the lime juice.

Add any or all of the optional ingredients, adjust for salt and lime juice, and throw in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to let the flavors meld a bit. Stir once more before serving.

Enjoy, and be prepared to explain why you didn’t make a bigger batch.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 14 August: Green Chile Huevos Rancheros

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After making the astoundingly tasty and stupid-easy New Mexico Inspired Roasted Green Chile Sauce I posted last week, my lovely wife and I did a bit of experimenting in the kitchen to see how we could incorporate the sauce into our summer rotation.

I have to admit, one of our favorite preps has ended up being these Green Chile Huevos Rancheros, which we’ve now had for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner at various times during the past three weeks.

Like many of you, we’re big fans of a good huevos rancheros prep around our camp, and like many of you, we’ve eaten them in all sorts of configurations and with all sorts of ingredients thrown into the mix, and both “green” and “red” (with what some would argue is the more traditional red chile and tomato-based sauces).

And like many of you, we’ve learned to reach for some of the much better than just passable gluten-free tortilla subs available now; we’ve tried most of them and still find the Siete brand our favorite for taste and texture, even if they are a bit pricy. Hells bells, we’ll still make up a batch of these using a high quality, organic if possible, corn tortilla occasionally as well.

[An aside related to the comment above – training again at 61 for competitive track and field, also referred to by some as the geezer olympics, I find myself able to manage more carbs on the heaviest workout days than I’ve been able to tolerate over the past several years. This dish is a great “carb refeed day” treat when you need to refill glycogen stores or are just needing a bit more to make your day work…]

One of the great things about making huevos your way in your home kitchen is that you can build your huevos any way you want. These are so easy, and so intuitive to put together, what follows is really not even a formal recipe.

Most of the time, we’ll soften our Siete tortillas (or well-sourced corn tortillas) in a hot skillet with a splash of avocado oil or butter, then top with drained and spiced (typically heated with a bit of jalapeño or serrano pepper, minced garlic, cumin, and salt) organic black beans, soft-yolked fried eggs, and whatever sauce we’re using. My wife probably won’t be happy unless there’s some grated Monterrey Jack or cotija cheese on top, along with some fresh cilantro.

Don’t want to use a tortilla of any kind? Don’t, and just float the eggs in a puddle (or a bowl) of sauce. Think poached eggs are better? Go for it. This is a recipe that will let your creativity shine, and your allegiance to whatever huevos rancheros tradition you’ve built over the years to come through loud and proud.

Our catering guru buddy in Austin, Chef Libby, often adds a layer of crispy sweet potato chunks to hers, along with sautéed poblanos or Hatch chiles if she has fresh ones on hand (they’re in season now by the way). She also shared that when she occasionally makes these for a family meal for her catering team, she’ll thrown in some roasted or grilled chicken too…

The take home is that the sky is the limit in terms of ingredients, with the real flavor anchor being the sauce your using to tie everything together.

We’ll post a traditional red rancheros sauce at some point, but if you’ve not made a batch yet, you have to cook up a meal of these with the New Mexico Inspired Roasted Green Chile Sauce from last week, and dig around for fresh Hatch green chiles, they’re all over the DFW metro now, or order some right out of New Mexico here.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 7 August: New Mexico Green Chile Sauce

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Historians inform us that Kit Carson, rancher, soldier, fur trapper, guide, chili master, uttered these words on his death bed: “Wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.”

Of course I wasn’t there to hear those words spoken, but I’d bet just about anything that Kit was thinking about a big, steaming pot of “New Mexico Green” when he uttered those (in)famous words. Ask any chili-head about what the worlds “New Mexico Green” mean, and she or he will tell you stories of magical chiles which almost all seem to revolve around the Hatch Chile.

You’ve no doubt heard wine aficionados huff and puff about the terroir of fine wines, that special, sometimes almost ethereal uniqueness that combinations of plant genetics, geography, geology and climate (maybe even microclimates) produce in certain grapes.

You can be damn sure that same terroir principal applies to the magnificent green chile lovingly grown in New Mexico, and we’re talking most specifically the climate and terroir around Hatch in the southern part of the state, north of Las Cruces and El Paso.

Being profound chili heads around our camp, we’ve grown over a dozen chile varieties from seed even way up north in Montana, nursing them in basement heated and lighted grow racks, starting them in the middle of winter in early February and transplanting them with care in May. They were passably good, most of them, but still couldn’t/ can’t hold a candle to the bushel or two we ship over from New Mexico to roast and freeze every year, or the fresh Hatch chiles we can buy at our favorite markets starting about now in the late summer and early fall.

As a point of full disclosure, I’m not from New Mexico, though I was taught about and trained in New Mexico cuisine by a lovely woman over thirty-five years ago during my residency in Salt Lake City. She was the wife of a residency mate, born and raised in Santa Fe, and one of the most intuitive cooks in the kitchen I’ve ever personally watched work.

This is her recipe handed down from her mother and grandmother, and about as authentic as they come. Primal and paleo folks may bark about the 2 tablespoons of flour; we’ve tried and tried to make this work with gluten free flours, and it’s just not quite the same to our taste. (Sometimes you just have to use it, and we’ve long since stopped beating ourselves up for a tablespoon or two of flour to make a recipe work…)

Make a big batch and freeze some, it keeps for months, and it’s great to have some handy with the hankering for green chile strikes.

1 medium onion, chopped fine
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
2 tbsp AP flour or your favorite gluten free sub
2 cups roasted NM green chile, stemmed, seeded, peeled, and chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

In a large, stainless sauce pan, heat the oil over medium-low heat; add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5-6 minutes until soft. Note that you’re not trying to brown or caramelize the onion, just soften, turn down the heat if it begins to brown.

Stir in the flour and black pepper, coating the onion-garlic mixture well and cooking for a minute or two. Now slowly whisk in 1 cup of the chicken stock, keeping it moving until the flour has dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

Add the prepped chiles, the rest of the stock, cumin, oregano, and salt, then bring to a low boil. Reduce to a simmer and reduce slowly, stirring now and again, until your sauce reaches the desired consistency.

Will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days if you don’t use it all up on the first run, and this sauce freezes like a charm, and is a treasure to have throughout the year.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Bake for a Crowd

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Several weeks a good friend called asking for help with an event he was planning; turns out the matriarch of his clan (Estelle) was celebrating her 94th birthday on the 4th of July.

From the sounds of things, Estelle is fit as a fiddle and sharp as can be, walking 30 minutes or more every morning, and still living at home with minimal family assistance for household chores. Estelle also happens to be a long-time fan of the flavors of Santa Fe and the American Southwest, asking for chile ribs and Santa Fe style flat green enchiladas (that’s my kind of woman!) for her birthday event this year.

My buddy was in charge of the event cooking, and wanted some input on the best way to serve Estelle the great food she’d asked for, in a prep that he could parcel out over several hours as they worked to manage the relatively large family crowd anticipated, safely spaced out throughout the afternoon to pay honor to Estelle.

We just happened to have been putting the finishing touches on this Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Bake for a Crowd, adjusting a master recipe we’d pilfered from our catering genius friend Chef Libby in Austin, and spicing things up a bit to suit our own family palate. As an added bonus, it feature the stunningly good Roasted Green Chile Sauce we posted last week.

Recipes like this one have an established place in history; in the South this recipe would fall under the broad umbrella of a “covered dish”, and taken to church socials, block parties, socials, wakes, special events, and homes of friends and family under the weather.

Both my wife and I grew up in Texas, and even back then when the earth’s crust was still cooling it seems that every family had a recipe for a chicken tortilla enchilada casserole; it was often called King Ranch chicken where we grew up in Texas, and invariably included one or more flavors of Campbell’s soup (here’s one version of that very recipe we posted on a fly fishing blog years ago).

As my buddy has several in his clan who’re gluten free, I suggested he use one of the Siete tortillas available now (for some reason that isn’t entirely clear to me we like their cassava flour version better), though if you have room in your carb budget, an artisanal / organic corn tortilla works well here too.

This holds well once baked, and can be chilled down and reheated in the oven with ease.

1 medium-large sweet onion, medium dice
1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, medium dice
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, medium dice
1-2 serrano or jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, small dice/minced
1 generous tbsp olive or avocado oil
3-4 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
3 cups of this amazing Roasted Green Chile Sauce (or salsa verde)
12 grain free (ie Siete) or organic corn tortillas, cut in half
3 cups grated/shredded Monterrey Jack or Colby Jack cheese
1 to 1 and 1/2 cups grated/shredded Cotija cheese
Kosher salt

Optional
Jarred pimento peppers, drained
2 big handfuls of organic baby spinach
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Other veg, you make the call

Toppings for service
Sliced or diced avocado
Fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stems, chopped
Diced fresh or pickled red onion
Sliced fresh or pickled jalapeños
Sliced radishes
Green onion, thinly sliced

Preheat your trusty oven to 375 and lightly butter or oil a 9×13-inch baking dish, set aside.

Heat the tablespoon of oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the onion, poblano, and bell peppers along with a pinch of good salt, sauté until they begin to soften, then add the serrano or jalapeños and cook for another couple of minutes.

Now add the prepped and cooked chicken and any of the other optional ingredients (we’d always use pimento peppers and black beans at least) along with 2 cups of the roasted green chile sauce and mix well. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Spread 1/2 cup (or a touch more) of the sauce in your pan, and layer in 8 tortilla halves to cover the bottom; now cover with roughly 1/3 of the chicken mixture then 1/3 of the Monterrey Jake or Colby cheese. The second layer over that one is identical: 8 tortilla halves, followed by 1/3 of the chicken mixture and 1/3 of the cheese.

The final layer is a little different: 8 tortilla halves, the remaining Monterrey Jack or Colby Jack cheese, the remaining chicken mixture, the remaining sauce, followed by the grated/shredded Cotija cheese.

Cover your masterpiece with foil and throw in the oven for 22 minutes, the remove the foil and bake for another 10-12 minutes until the edges are bubbling and the Cotija is beginning to brown in places.

When done, remove from the oven and let stand for 7-10 minutes, then serve warm with your toppings of choice.

Enjoy.