Mike's Chicken Enchilada Lasagna

Shredded chicken is layered with tortillas--fried and dipped in enchilada sauce--cheddar cheese, olives & cilantro sour cream salsa.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole broiler-fryer chicken
• 1 carrot, cut up
• 3 onions (1 cut up for stock, 2 for later)
• 2 celery stalks, cut up
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, cut up
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• Olive oil
• 2 cans enchilada sauce
• 18 corn tortillas
• 1 lb. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 can black olives, drained and sliced
• 1 can French fried onions
• For Cilantro Sour Cream Salsa:
• 1 bunch cilantro
• Juice of 3 large limes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed
• Honey or sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• Olive oil, as needed

Directions:

Cook chicken, carrot, 1 onion, celery, bay leaves and 1 garlic clove in water to cover; add salt & pepper to taste. Cook for 45-60 mins, covered, until tender. Remove chicken, cool; remove and shred meat, discarding skin and bones. Strain and reserve 2 cups of broth. To make sauce, in a saucepan saute 1 onion, 1 garlic clove and 1 chopped jalapeno in a little oil; add enchilada sauce & the reserved, strained chicken broth. Cook until sauce thickens. While chicken is cooking, in a large nonstick skillet, cook 1 onion, sliced into thin rings, until caramelized; set onions aside. In skillet, heat some olive oil on medium to medium-high until hot but not smoking. Fry the corn tortillas briefly; they should puff up almost immediately, but not brown. With a pair of tongs, take each tortilla out, drain, and dunk it in the enchilada sauce, allowing it to soak up sauce. Line bottom of a large greased baking dish with six of these tortillas. Top with half of the shredded chicken, then with 1/3 of the olives, onions, shredded cheese and a ladle or two of sauce. (If you start to run low, you can stretch your sauce by adding more broth.) Next, add 6 more tortillas, overlapping them in the middle and going slightly up the sides of the dish. Add remaining chicken and another 1/3 of the olives, caramelized onions, shredded cheese and a ladle or two of sauce. Add one more layer of tortillas, top with cheese, olives, sauce, then with French fried onions. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, cool slightly and serve with Cilantro Sour Cream Salsa (below), and with rice and refried beans as side dishes. Cilantro Sour Cream Salsa: In food processor, combine 1 bunch of washed and cleaned cilantro leaves, lime juice, seeded jalapeno, 1 clove garlic and some honey or sugar; process until smooth. Add 1 cup sour cream; process until smooth and creamy. Thin with a little olive oil, if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Number of Servings: 8

Notes from the Cook: If you want a lower-fat version, you can skip frying the tortillas in oil, but this step helps hold them together. I use Old El Paso enchildad sauce.