Pastel Azteca

The tortillas go in dry and unfried, and the sauce does the softening in the oven instead.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name, chicken.

Ingredients

the sauce

• 4 poblano chillies
• 600 g tomatillos, husked
• 2 serrano chillies
• ½ onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• a handful of coriander
• 300 ml double cream
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons oil

the layers

• 15 corn tortillas, as on their own page
• 600 g chicken, poached and shredded
• 300 g sweetcorn kernels
• 350 g cheese that melts, grated

Method

1. THE TORTILLAS GO IN DRY AND UNFRIED, AND THE SAUCE DOES THE SOFTENING IN THE OVEN. Every other layered tortilla dish on this site fries or oils the tortilla first to stop it collapsing. This one relies on the opposite: dry tortillas laid straight into the dish are thirsty, and over forty minutes in a covered dish they drink the sauce and swell into soft sheets with the texture of fresh pasta. That is the whole point of the dish -- it is a layered bake, not a stack of crisp things. Fried first, they stay firm and chewy and refuse the sauce, and the result is a dish with sauce running between rigid layers.
2. THERE MUST BE PLENTY OF SAUCE, WHICH LOOKS LIKE TOO MUCH. Fifteen dry tortillas absorb a great deal. The assembled dish should look distinctly wet before it goes in -- sauce visible at the sides -- and if it looks correct at that point it will come out dry and the tortillas will be leathery at the edges.
3. IT IS BAKED COVERED AND THEN UNCOVERED. Thirty minutes under foil, so the steam stays in and the tortillas soften evenly all the way to the top layer; then fifteen minutes open to brown the cheese. Uncovered throughout, the top tortilla dries into a hard lid while the middle is still firm.
4. THE CREAM GOES INTO THE SAUCE AND NOT BETWEEN THE LAYERS. Blended in with the tomatillo and poblano, so every drop of sauce carries it. Drizzled between layers it sits in bands, and in the oven those bands split into oil and curd.
5. IT RESTS FIFTEEN MINUTES OUT OF THE OVEN BEFORE IT IS CUT. Straight out, the layers slide apart and a portion collapses onto the plate. Fifteen minutes and it sets enough to lift a square out whole -- which is what makes it a pastel rather than a casserole.
6. The poblanos charred black on a dry pan 10 minutes, left under a cloth 15 MINUTES, skinned and deseeded.
7. The tomatillos and serranos simmered 8 to 10 minutes until they turn from bright green to olive. Drained.
8. The poblanos, tomatillos, serranos, onion, garlic and coriander blended smooth with the salt.
9. The oil heated and the blended sauce cooked 10 MINUTES until darkened, then taken OFF the heat and the CREAM stirred in.
10. A deep ovenproof dish buttered. A ladle of sauce spread over the base.
11. Tortillas laid in DRY and unfried, overlapping to cover.
12. A third of the chicken, corn, a ladle of sauce and a third of the cheese over them.
13. Repeated twice more -- dry tortillas, chicken, corn, sauce, cheese -- finishing with tortillas, the last of the sauce and the rest of the cheese.
14. CHECKED: it should look distinctly WET, with sauce visible at the sides. More sauce or a splash of stock if not.
15. Covered with foil and baked at 190°C for 30 MINUTES.
16. The foil REMOVED and baked 15 MINUTES more, until browned and bubbling.
17. RESTED 15 MINUTES before cutting, or it will not hold together.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes