Flautas de la Noche

Will it be good enough? Can my six month absence be forgiven? Does anybody still read this thing? These are the questions that have kept me up at night for six months as I cooked high and low searching for the next entry in the Captain's Table. Well, I'm here to say that I think it is good enough, and I am smart enough, and gosh darn it...

Let me just give you a quick update. I've finally got an herb and tomato garden growing on my deck, and the cherry tomato plant ("Sweet 100") is loaded with flowers and little green tomatoes. The regular-type tomato plant ("Better Boy") is coming along nicely and is adjusting to a new cage. It also has a bunch of flowers and several large green tomatoes ripening up. No more lousy tomatoes! (I hope.) In the herb section I've got tons of basil, lots of cilantro (just planted more yesterday to replenish), curly purple basil (a freebie from a nursery), arugula, parsley and mint. It's all coming in very handy these days.

Sometimes, when a craving strikes me and I happen to have the time to satisfy that craving, wonderful things happen in the kitchen. The music starts rockin', the broth starts boilin', and before you know it, there's a great big heap of chicken flautas on a plate waiting to be devoured.

The time it takes to go from recognizing a flauta craving to realizing the dream is about 3 hours. It takes a bit longer to make the rest of them to save for later. In case you've been deprived of greasy Mexican food all your life, a flauta is a simple soft taco rolled up and fried crisp and served optionally with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and/or cold beer. It's all about texture and spices.

The shredded chicken filling is great for wet chicken tacos, too. See also my carnitas recipe for topping suggestions.

















Shredded Chicken Flautas

3 split chicken breasts (bone-in)
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 hot chili, diced, more if you like
juice of one lemon
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 tsp freshly ground coriander
1/2 tsp oregano
1 T fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Place everything into a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partially covered, until the chicken is full cooked, about 30 minutes or until a thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat reads 160F. Flip the chicken occasionally to cook it evenly. Turn the heat off and take one breast out of the broth at a time. Discard the bones and skin and shred the meat with two forks by holding with one and pulling bits of meat off of a large chunk with the other. Transfer the shredded meat back to the broth to keep it moist and continue to shred all of the meat. Taste for seasoning and if anything, over-salt it so that the meat will carry the flavors into your tacos.

From here you can proceed with sloppy wet tacos, or you can continue on with flautas.

To make flautas, you'll need soft corn tortillas, a skillet with medium-hot oil about 1/4" deep, and some shredded cheese (I tried an habanero jack cheese tonight.)

Take some of the wet meat from the broth and spread it out on a roasting pan or toaster oven pan. Roast it at 400F until the meat is starting to crisp on the edges and the water has evaporated from the broth, leaving behind all the flavor.

Fry a tortilla in the oil, one side at a time, until it starts puffing up a little bit, but isn't browning. Drain it on paper towels, place some chicken and cheese across the middle, and fold the sides over. Flip it over on the seam to hold it closed while the shell crisps up a little bit. Keep frying until your craving forces you to eat some of the tacos you've just made.

Makes 20+ flautas.