Pastel Azteca Norteño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy stockpot for poaching the chicken
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring the chiles and tomatoes
• •Tongs for turning the chiles over an open flame
• •High-powered blender
• •Heavy 9-by-13-inch baking dish or wide clay cazuela
• •Aluminum foil

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the chicken

   Place the chicken in a heavy stockpot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat and skim the gray foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Lower the heat until the bubbles are lazy and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. Cold water and a slow simmer give you a clean broth and tender meat. A hard boil makes the chicken stringy and the broth cloudy.

   Save every drop of the poaching broth. You will use a little to loosen the tomato salsa and the rest goes in the freezer for the next pot of arroz or sopa.
2. 2

   Shred the chicken

   Lift the chicken out and let it cool until you can handle it. Pull the meat from the bones in long shreds with your fingers. Discard the skin and bones. You should have about four cups of shredded meat. Season lightly with salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Cover and set aside.

3. 3

   Char the chiles for the rajas

   Set the chiles Anaheim directly over an open gas flame, turning with tongs, until the skins are blackened and blistered on every side. About six to eight minutes. If you have an electric stove, use the broiler. Drop the charred chiles into a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and let them sweat for ten minutes. The trapped heat loosens the skin from the flesh.

   Char the skin until it is black, but do not let the flesh underneath turn to mush. The chile should still hold its shape when you peel it. The chile Anaheim is the northern chile of choice here. It is milder than poblano and longer, the kind that hangs in ristras across the kitchens of Chihuahua and Sonora.
4. 4

   Peel and cut the rajas

   Peel the blackened skin away with your fingers. Do not rinse the chiles under water. You will wash away the smoky flavor that the charring just gave you. A few black flecks left on the flesh are a sign of a properly charred chile, not a flaw. Pull out the stems and seeds and slice the chiles into long strips about a half-inch wide. These are your rajas.

5. 5

   Cook the rajas

   Heat one tablespoon of manteca in a heavy skillet over medium. Add the sliced onion and cook until soft and translucent, about five minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook one more minute. Add the rajas and a generous pinch of salt. Cook for five minutes more, stirring, until the chiles soften and take on the flavor of the lard and onion. La manteca es el sabor. Set aside.

6. 6

   Make the salsa de tomate

   While the chiles are sweating, char the tomatoes and the chile serrano on the same comal or under the broiler until the skins blister and blacken in spots, about eight minutes. Transfer to a blender with a half cup of the chicken broth and a teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth. Heat the remaining two tablespoons of manteca in a saucepan over medium. Pour in the salsa, it will sputter, and cook for ten minutes, stirring, until it darkens and thickens slightly. Taste for salt. This is not a raw salsa. Frying it in lard is what binds the flavors and gives the casserole its body.

7. 7

   Soften the tortillas

   Heat the neutral oil in a small skillet over medium. Pass each tortilla through the hot oil for about five seconds per side. Not to fry crisp. To soften and seal. Drain on paper towels or on a clean cotton cloth. Day-old tortillas are better here. They hold their shape under the salsa instead of dissolving into mush. Fresh tortillas will work but they need a longer dip in the oil to drive out moisture.

   No me vengas con atajos. Skipping the oil dip is the most common mistake. The fat is a barrier that lets the tortilla absorb flavor without falling apart. A tortilla layered in raw will turn the casserole into wet paste.
8. 8

   Mix the crema

   Whisk the crema norteña with the milk in a small bowl until pourable but still thick enough to coat a spoon. The thinning is so the crema spreads evenly across each layer instead of sitting in clumps. If your crema is already thin, skip the milk.

9. 9

   Build the first layer

   Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spoon a thin layer of salsa de tomate across the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or a wide clay cazuela. Lay six tortillas across the bottom, overlapping as needed to cover the surface. Spread half the shredded chicken across the tortillas. Spoon over a third of the remaining salsa. Scatter half the rajas across the top. Drizzle a third of the crema. Sprinkle a generous third of the queso Chihuahua.

10. 10

    Build the second and third layers

    Lay another six tortillas across the top. Spread the remaining chicken. Spoon over half of the remaining salsa. Add the rest of the rajas. Drizzle another third of the crema. Sprinkle another third of the cheese. Top with a final layer of six tortillas, the last of the salsa, the last of the crema, and finally the remaining cheese on top. The cheese on top is the lid that browns in the oven and seals the casserole.

11. 11

    Bake until bubbling and gold

    Cover the dish loosely with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until the cheese is melted, deep gold in spots, and the salsa is bubbling visibly around the edges. The casserole is ready when a knife slides through all the layers without resistance and the surface looks the way a gratin should look: glossy, browned, alive at the edges.

12. 12

    Rest and serve

    Let the pastel rest for ten minutes before cutting. This is not optional. Cut it the moment it leaves the oven and the layers slide apart on the plate. Rest it and the layers set into squares that hold their shape under the knife. Serve with a spoonful of crema on top and a small bowl of salsa on the side for those who want more heat. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Queso Chihuahua is the cheese for this dish. If you cannot find it, queso menonita is the same thing under a different name. Monterey Jack is a compromise, not an upgrade. Do not use cheddar. Yellow cheese on this casserole turns it into something else, and that something else is not Mexican.
• •Chile Anaheim is the right chile for the norteño version. If you cannot find it, chile poblano will work, but the dish will lean a little earthier and a little hotter. The Anaheim is what makes this northern, not central. Buy it at a Mexican mercado if you can. The supermarket version is often pale and underdeveloped.
• •Crema norteña is thicker and more sour than the crema you find in Mexico City. If you cannot find it, mix Mexican crema with a tablespoon of sour cream per cup to approximate the tang. Do not use American sour cream straight. It splits in the oven and goes grainy.
• •This is a make-ahead dish. Build it the night before, refrigerate covered, and pull it out an hour before baking to take the chill off. The flavors deepen overnight. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and saber cocinar means knowing which dishes get better when you wait.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken can be poached and shredded one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat and the broth separately.
• •The salsa de tomate can be fried and refrigerated up to two days ahead. The flavor deepens.
• •The rajas can be charred, peeled, and cooked one day ahead. Refrigerate covered.
• •The whole casserole can be assembled one day ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Add 15 minutes to the covered baking time when cooking from cold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)