Since Sarah’s been slacking on the recipe tip, I thought I’d share with you a most delicious dish that I learnt from an older cousin-in-law of mine when I was ’bout 12. It’s called Mexican Chicken Casserole, and prior to my relocation to Little Mexico in Bowling Green some years back, was about as authentic a Mexican dish as I’d ever had. (Well, except for that fancy cheese in the elevated, candle-heated bowl at Tumbleweed… God, I miss that cheese.)

Here’s how it goes: You take a good bit of chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts — I’m not sure how many, but that’s not all that important, is it? — and you boil ‘em. Do yourself a favor and err on the side of caution; even if you really dry those suckers out, it’s ok, because the rest of this soupy mess will do more than enough moistening to make up for it.

Humble, juicy beginnings

So yeah. Your chicken. Cook it and dice it — “on the black cutting board!” my wife reminds me every time (“black stands for death,” she says, as if this is supposed to help me remember which cutting board to use when dicing perfectly safe, thoroughly cooked chicken, and as if it makes any difference at all, which it absolutely does not) — and then toss it in a big ol’ mixing bowl. To this bowl, add one can Cream of Mushroom and one can Cream of Chicken — because one kind of cream just isn’t enough for a respectable redneck casserole (is that redundant?) —  along with an onion, diced “on the white cutting board!”, and a can of Rotel® brand diced tomatoes with green chiles (I like to get the one that says “HOT” on it, which boasts habaneros (hob-ah-NEHR-ohs) instead of jalapenos (hal-uh-PEEYN-yohs).

Now! Stir that mess up real good, and resist just scooping it out and eating it off a spoon, because this is where things get really int’restin’. Get a casserole dish and a big bag of Doritos® brand Nacho Cheesier™ flavor corn chips, and dump about 2/3 of them right into the dish. Then, after washing your hands (if you haven’t already, and I’m betting you haven’t), crush those guys up into chunky little pieces, and spread them evenly across the bottom of the dish. This is going to be your crust, so to speak.

Into the crusty, processed-cheesy pan, pour out the weird concoction with the chicken and the creams and the other stuff and spread it around in there with a bowlscraper. Yes, a bowlscraper — one word, meaning the kind of spatula that has a rubbery end that you use to scrape out bowls. It’s important that you choose a bowlscraper for this task, because… well, you need to scrape the bowl to get all the juicy goodness you can packed into this dish. (I don’t think my sisters invented the word bowlscraper, but they certainly use it more often than most.)

T-minus 30 until ecstasy!

Now you need to take some preshredded “Mexican” cheese, easily obtainable in the “ethnic” section of your local supermarket, and give the whole mish-mash a good blanketing. Once that’s done, pour the rest of the Doritos on top and spread them out, and maybe sprinkle a bit more cheese on top of all that for good measure. (This ensures that your casserole has at least five layers, which I think is a cardinal rule of casserolling.)

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes, and wait for your world to get rocked. Rocked, rolled, and casserolled — all rolled up into layer upon layer of delicious redneck goodness.