Friday, January 4, 2008

Mexican Chicken with Almond-Chile Cream

D and I had always made this with Chipotle Chile Powder instead of Ancho...we didn't do the mix that they suggested. It was always very spicy. One day I finally found the ancho powder and we had it last night. Wow! What a difference. It had a lot more flavor without burning out our mouths.

Crema Mexicana at Kroger is found with the refrigerated Mexican food which is usually in the Mexican Aisle, and not in the refrigerated aisle. It is a white bottle with a red top. If you plan your meals, you should probably find some other things to make that week with it. If you can't find it, use heavy whipping cream or RF Sour Cream.

We have this with rice (white or yellow).

Mexican Chicken with Almond-Chile Cream


Photo by ALB

Instructions
3 tablespoons sliced almonds
2 teaspoons ground ancho chile pepper
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons crema Mexicana
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Combine almonds and chile pepper in a blender or food processor; process until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt and black pepper.

Heat butter and oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add almond mixture, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and broth; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in crema Mexicana. Serve sauce over chicken. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 2 tablespoons sauce)

CALORIES 269 (30% from fat); FAT 8.9g (sat 2.8g,mono 3.1g,poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 41.3g; CHOLESTEROL 109mg; CALCIUM 35mg; SODIUM 387mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2.8g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2005

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I usually make a cumin rice to go with dishes like this. I have a rice cooker...

I toast about a teaspoon of cumin seeds in a pan and add it to the rice in the cooker BEFORE it cooks along with about a teaspoon of cumin powder. When the rice is done, I usually add about 1T of ICBNB or margarine and some salt. It's good.