Mexican Lasagna

 "Chilaquiles" can be very easy dish to make.  Just throw some tortilla chips in a skillet and toss them with some salsa and garnish with onions, cheese and sour cream.  You can also add scrambled eggs or shredded chicken.

However, I have a more elaborate and time-consuming recipe for making "chilaquiles" that I have made on occasion for dinner parties.  Alejandro says that it more like "pastel azteca" (Aztec cake), and I sometimes call it "Mexican lasagna" because it is layered in a baking dish.  I had never made it for Alejandro's family, so yesterday I decided to prepare it for dinner.

I lightly fired corn tortillas in oil, broke them up and lined the bottom of a large baking dish with them..

On top of the tortillas, I spread shredded chicken.  (The one concession I made to convenience was to buy a package of pre-cooked shredded chicken.)

Over the chicken I ladled a sauce that I made from onions, garlic, Roma tomatoes and a couple of diced jalapeño peppers. (The sauce was not very spicy because I had cut the veins out of the peppers.  That's where the heat is.)

Next, I spooned on a layer of Mexican sour cream.

Then came another layer of lightly fried tortillas.  You'll notice that some of the tortillas are green.  That's because they had some leftover "tortillas de nopal" (cactus is mixed into the corn dough).

It is all covered with shredded cheese.  I used Chihuahua cheese.  I garnished it with sliced jalapeño peppers.

I covered it with foil and put it in the oven to heat it through and melt the cheese.  I didn't think it tasted quite as good as when I make it at home, but that's probably because I didn't make it very spicy and I didn't add any salt.  It was a hit with the family, however.  It thought there would be enough for leftovers the next day, but everyone had seconds and our nephew Ezra had thirds!  I asked Ezra if it was something I should make again, and he enthusiastically said "¡Sí!"