Ole!

I tried a new recipe tonight. Super easy and yummy. It's no secret that I love Mexican food. I also have a weakness for things that are fried and crunchy. I'll admit to loving flautas and taquitos. So, when I found a recipe to make my own flautas, I decided to give it a shot. I'd say they turned out pretty dang good. I used a recipe from Food and Wine. Check it out.

First, you make your filling. Just 2 cups shredded chicken, 1 cup cheese, some seasoning and some chillies. Since it's eight million degrees here and I didn't want to turn my oven on, I opted for a rotisserie chicken this time around. Most grocery stores have them in their prepared foods section and they are great in a pinch. Just get an unseasoned or lightly seasoned one. Tomorrow I'll make some chicken salad with the rest of it. Shred the chicken and put it in a bowl. Add the shredded cheese and seasoning. The recipe calls for cumin seeds but I didn't have those so I just added a bit of ground cumin. Worked just fine. I also opted for canned green chillies instead of the jalapenos. Go with what you prefer. Once the filling is made, it's time to make the flautas.

Wrap the corn tortillas in a towel and microwave for about a minute so they get soft. Do not skip that step. If you do, the tortillas will just fall apart. Add the filling as such.

Actually, this is just a bit too much filling for one. Use slightly less. Then roll them up and secure with a toothpick. This should make 12 flautas. See.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan. Just regular vegetable oil is fine. You want about a quarter of an inch in whatever skillet you use and you want it to be hot before you put these in. Fry them up a few at a time.

Fry until they are light golden brown, turning to get all sides. The filling is cooked, you you just need to warm it through and crisp the outside. This will take a few minutes. Just keep an eye on them. When they are done, drain on paper towels to get ride of the excess oil. Remove the toothpicks and serve them up.

I had mine with sour cream (note to self, if you are not left handed, don't use your left hand to put sour cream on a plate. You will have too much.). You could also serve with guacamole, salsa, cabbage, cheese, whatever. Since I'm trying to eat more veggies, I had a green salad with mine but you could go all out and do rice and beans.

These should reheat just fine so that I can eat them for lunch this week as well. Give them a try!