Makes 6 to 8 burritos, depending on how much you load into them.
Ingredients
Package of 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
Flour tortilla shells, burrito size
Any or all of the below:
Shredded cheddar cheese
Head lettuce, about less than half of it
Small can of sliced black olives
Salsa, as hot as you like
Can of refried beans
Can of Spanish rice
Sour cream
Jar of sliced jalepeno peppers
Foil, and a cookie sheet
Spoons for the beans, spanish rice, black olives, sour cream, and salsa.
Extra fork to pick up the jalepeno peppers.
Fork and sharp knife if you cube the chicken; 2 forks if you want yours
shredded. [you use the forks to pull the chicken apart]
Plates, and a fork. Possibly a knife, if you make your burrito too
large it cant be picked up safely. :-) {yes, I do this!}
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear off 4 slices of foil, large
enough for them to hold one chicken breast each. If not the release
type of foil, then spray with a release spray, like Pam. Place one chicken
breast into the center of each slice of foil. Bring up the longer ends,
and hold at top. Fold these down, and squeeze to secure. Fold in edges
and squeeze to secure. Place all foil packets on cookie sheet. When oven
is ready, bake for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, remove cookie
sheet and open each foil packet, being careful not to tear down so far
that the liquid inside the packets can leak out. Place back in the oven
and cook for another 15 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, prepare the rest of your ingredients:
Open the cans of refried beans and spanish rice, and place each in
a microwave safe container. Cover with one sheet of microwave safe paper
towel. Microwave each on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and
set aside.
Wash and dry the lettuce. Stack on a plate or cutting surface, and
cut long strips into the lettuce, but you will be cutting across the layers,
so you will be getting 'shredded' lettuce. Don't under estimate how much
you will need!
Open the can of black olives and drain the liquid. Set aside.
Place the bag of shredded cheese on the counter, to remove the chill
from the cheese.
Place the tub of sour cream and the jalepeno pepper jar on the counter.
You can place spoons into each of these, or place a spoon near each to
be used later.
When the chicken is done, remove one breast at a time and cut into cubes, or shred. If you cube the chicken, make sure the cubes are not very large. Place all cubes in a large bowl.
Set up your meal buffet style, so everyone can make their own burrito. If you want your burrito with jalepeno peppers, then be aware that they will add a lot of spice that you may not be accustomed to. We love spicy and hot foods, so usually put several slices on our burritos. It's enough to give it a really nice flavor and kick you don't get without them.
To make your burritos, place one burrito shell on a plate. Add some chicken just off center, about 1 1/2" from the top and bottom. Place some lettuce over that, then follow with the rest of the ingredients, using spoons to add lines of the rice, beans, etc over the top of what is already on the shell. If you don't want the sour cream on your burrito, you can put some on your plate like my husband does. Just be aware, the more ingredients you put on the burrito, the harder it will be to roll it up. To roll up the shell: fold the top and bottom in towards each other, then fold over the shorter of the 2 sides. You can either roll the burrito towards the end of the longer side, or fold this longer side over. Your goal is to make an enclosed burrito that you could possibly pick up and eat, not use a fork and knife on. Heating the burrito shell slightly will help you roll it easier.
If you prefer to have your cheese melted, do NOT add the lettuce yet. Pop the entire burrito, not rolled up, in the microwave for about 45 seconds. The cheese will not melt completely, but will after you roll it up. Add your lettuce and sour cream at this time, fold up the bottom and top, and roll the sides to form your burrito. If you want a layer of melted cheese on top of your burrito, add all the ingredients as you want them, roll the burrito so the flap is under it, put some shredded cheddar cheese on top, then place under the broiler [make sure your plates can handle this first!]. You will have to watch it, to make sure it doesn't burn or catch fire. I don't know how long it'll take for the cheese to melt, so you must watch it. But if you do this, the sour cream and lettuce will be warm. Some people don't mind this. You can always add the shredded lettuce next to the plate, along with a slice of tomato and dab of sour cream. Some people also like their spanish rice on the plate, not inside the burrito. Just experiment and make what you like.
The above recipe will make at the very least 6 burritos. You might even want to try your hand at adding some of the leftovers to make nachos. My husband uses Mission Tortilla Rounds for ours.
added July 2007: discovered that one chicken breast will make 4 burritios that arent stuffed to over flowing. So a package of 4 will give you quite a lot of them. :-)
Feel free to print and try this recipe, and to share this recipe
with others. Just make sure to credit me, and leave my URL on this recipe.
http://extrastellar.net
CJ Roshak
Page built 18 June 2007