The weather has been horrible in Wisconsin this past month, and all of us Wisconsinites are growing a bit tired of the cold, and rainy weather, well, at least I am. If you are like many of us, cold and dreary weather just screams comfort food, and we all know that is right up my alley. So recently I paid a visit to one of our local Mexican grocery stores in town known as El Rey. I’ll admit, I love El Rey. You can get some awesome food there, then grab a cart or basket and load up on great produce, among other things. Often times when I am there, I will pick up some of their homemade tamales. I’m a big fan of tamales, and have made them in the past, but it is a bit of work, patience, and time in making them, so I find it easier to support the local supermercado, and buy theirs.
Believe it or not, but everyone in my family enjoys a good tamale, and that is rare, and when I brought them home, unfortunately no one had much interest in eating them. So I was stuck with a handful of tamales, and I was not going to let them go to waste, that was for certain. So I decided I would raid the refrigerator, use my leftovers, including that of some awesome cheesy potatoes, and come up with this excellent casserole.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken tamales, cooked, and chopped
- 3/4 cup of salsa verde, plus more
- 2 cups of cheesy potatoes, see recipe
- 1 cup of tortilla chips, crushed
- 1 cup of cooked chicken breast, cubed
- 1 whole serrano chile, thinly sliced
Begin by adding the chopped tamales to the bottom of a medium sized casserole dish. Toss in the cubed chicken, pour over salsa verde, Â then cover with the cheesy potatoes. Â Top with the crushed tortilla chips.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the casserole with aluminum foil, and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover after 30 minutes, and cook an additional 5 minutes.
Remove, and serve. Add some sliced serrano chilies, and drizzle a bit more salsa verde over the top and you have yourself one awesome and comforting casserole.