Chicken Pablano and All the Fixings

We had a Mexican Sunday lunch that was pretty tasty, IMHO. The husband does most of the cooking, but he cooks only what HE likes. So when I have a hankering for Southern food or Mexican food, or desserts, or anything with more than a few ingredients in a longer recipe, I do the cooking.

Here was our lunch, based loosely on recipes for Chicken Pablano found at this site, and Mexican Fried Rice found at this site, and pinto beans, and tortillas.

Start out with roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped pablano peppers:

For a quick cream sauce to add to chicken that has been browned and cooked in garlic and onions with a bit of chicken sauce and white wine and herbs and S&P, just mix sour cream with the chopped pablano peppers and a bit of cumin for seasoning.  Put this atop the cooked chicken in the skillet for about five minutes, or long enough to warm up the sour cream.

Actually, the entree was the easiest part of the meal.  Start off by cooking the pinto beans (soaked overnight, but not necessary) with a few slices of bacon, a fresh chopped tomato, cilantro, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chili seasoning, and S&P.  It takes around two hours on a low stove top burner to take out the crunch in the beans.

And then there was the rice, browned in a skillet with bacon, chopped garlic, and chopped tomatoes prior to adding the water.  I used 1 1/2 cups white rice and about 2 cups water after browning the rice and vegetables and cooked it while covered for about 20 minutes.  I also added a can of corn after the rice cooked.  Peas and carrots could be added, too.  And don't forget to season with all the herbs and spices you like!

(Pretend there is cilantro atop the rice.  It would have made a better pictorial essay.)

It was almost a fiesta!