Viva la Tinga!

Mexican food is delicious. I probably don't need to tell you this.

Just to be clear ... I'm not talking that Chi Chi's Fake Mexican via America/Tex Mex stuff like chimichangas, mind you. (While I like that, too, that's not the stuff to which I am referring.)

I'm talking real Mexican, made by Mexican Grandmas. The Abuelita I hold in highest esteem is my sister's mother-in-law, Margarita Nava. She's playing an important role in the Rose Bowl party we're having tomorrow. And I'm willing to bet she would be surprised to know that, considering she's probably totally unaware of what the Rose Bowl is.

So, we're mixing a little American and Mexican in a taco bar/buffet. Serve-yourself-easy and make-your-own-delicious. Choose your meat, choose your fixings, choose your delivery vehicle (corn tortilla, flour tortilla, whole wheat tortilla, baked chips, regular chips, tostadas ... you get the idea) and chow down.

To go with the standard Tex-Mex ground beef with taco seasoning and shredded orange cheese, I've also got a secrete weapon that's lean and flavorful and makes my mouth water.

The Nava's Tinga!!!!!!!! (Abuelita's recipe as told to Juan Carlos.)

Tinga
2-4 chicken breasts on the bone
1 white onion, sliced
1 can chipotle in adobo
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
Salt and pepper

Put chicken breasts in soup pot, cover with water, add sliced onions, salt and pepper and bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Cook chicken until done; save cooking liquid. Pick chicken off bone and return meat to big skillet or soup pot with onions. In a blender, puree one or two chipotle peppers with a spoonful or two of the sauce. To chicken, add enough of the cooking liquid to make it a little wet. Add the chipotle puree a little at a time, tasting as you go. NOTE: The chipotle is HOT. Start slow and increase to your taste, making it as spicy as you like it. Add chopped tomato and salt and pepper to taste. The longer it stews, the better it tastes.

(I often make this with boneless, skinless breasts. I just substitute a can of chicken stock for the juice. If I don't have a tomato on hand, I will use a can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes.)

Traditional way to serve: In the Mexican section of the grocery store, buy a package of tostadas. (Fried corn tortilla ... like a big Tostitos chip). Spread a little crema (Mexican sour cream) on the tostada. Then add the tinga. Sprinkle with queso fresco (Mexican crumbly white cheese like a mild Feta), diced white onion and chopped cilantro. Squeeze some lime on the top if you want to be crazy. But of course it's good in taco salad, in a whole wheat tortilla burrito, on my left arm, from a shoe, etc.