King Ranch Chicken- From Scratch

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (homemade, if possible)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chicken stock or 3/4 cup broth
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium poblano chile, chopped
• 1 cup finely chopped mushroom
• 2 plum tomatoes, peeled,seeded and chopped (or 1/2 c canned tomatoes)
• 2 tablespoons chopped pimiento
• canola oil, for softening tortillas
• 8 corn tortillas
• 3 -4 cups diced cooked chicken (mixture of light and dark meat preferred)
• 1/3 cup sliced green olives
• 1/3 cup green onion, including tops,chopped
• 2 cups grated longhorn cheese or 2 cups mild cheddar cheese

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350°f.
• 2 grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or 3-quart casserole.
• 3 a cast iron dutch oven is best.
• 4 make the sauce: melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat.
• 5 add the garlic and chili powder, and sauté for a minute or two.
• 6 raise the heat to medium.
• 7 quickly sprinkle in the flour and stir to mix.
• 8 pour in a small amount of the chicken broth, stirring constantly to remove lumps and allowing the flour to"cook" briefly.
• 9 gradually add the remaining chicken broth, add the buttermilk and continue stirring until sauce has thickened, 3 or 4 minutes.
• 10 add salt and pepper to taste.
• 11 sauce may be prepared in advance and refrigerated.
• 12 make the filling: warm a heavy skillet over medium heat, add the butter or olive oil, and sauté the chopped onion, green pepper, poblano, mushrooms, tomatoes and pimientos until onion is transparent, about 4 or 5 minutes.
• 13 fold into the mixture the diced chicken, olives and green onions, combining well.
• 14 remove from heat.
• 15 assembling the dish: in a small skillet, heat about about half an inch of canola oil.
• 16 using tongs, dip the tortillas in the hot oil one at a time, for just a few seconds, so that they are softened.
• 17 cover the bottom of your baking dish with 4 of the softened tortillas.
• 18 layer the remaining ingredients in the following order: half of the chicken/vegetable mixture half of the grated cheese half of the sauce the remaining 4 softened tortillas the remaining chicken/vegetable mixture the remaining grated cheese the remaining sauce bake for 30 minutes at 350°f until casserole is heated through and bubbly.
• 19 makes 6 to 8 servings.