Chef Janine is opening up the 2023 holiday season with a series of hearty COMFORT KETO menus featuring deliciously ripe harvest season ingredients and flavors which we all love and want to return to again and again.
This perfectly ketogenic Chicken Enchilada Casserole is surely shaking up our COMFORT KETO holiday season menu. Chef Janine's affinity for Mexican flavors led her to develop this variation of quiche with the uniquely Mexican Nopales cactus. This authentic meal has been one of the most popular Mexican meals COMFORT KETO has offered throughout the years.
This classic deep dish pulled chicken breast enchilada casserole (quiche) leaps into another realm with the addition of:
authentic Mexican blend cheese,
classic fiesta seasonings,
crushed pork rinds,
sliced black olives,
salsa verde, and
fine cut strips of Nopales cactus, and
all that goodness sprinkled on top with chives, and
topped with a dollop of sour cream, and
homemade fresh guacamole (or depending on the served version, house made pico de gallo).
This magical combination transforms this authentic Mexican meal into a delightful any-time-of-day main dish with a super kick. You can enjoy it at home heated in an oven, or take along and enjoy cold.
Who Invented The Enchilada First?
The Aztecs were the first nation to develop the first ‘true’ enchilada. When the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo first entered the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán in 1519, he was amazed by the food. He had never seen anything so rich, nor so unusual. Served on platters of ‘red and black Cholula pottery’, these were of every imaginable variety including ‘pots of chocolate.’ But most striking of all was a little dish served between courses, the enchilada.
This is thought to be the earliest mention of enchiladas in European culinary literature. From that point on, this authentic Aztec dish evolved gradually into the deliciously meaty confections we know today.
When Mexico became a fully fledged colony –as the Viceroyalty of New Spain– new ingredients such as cheese, pork and chicken were added; and chilli paste based spicy sauces came to be used, as enchilada slowly became an integral part of Mexico's culinary culture. In the mid-18th century, now seen as neither Spanish nor Aztec, enchiladas gradually took on the air of a distinctively ‘Mexican’ national food.
When the US annexed Texas (1845), California and the South-West (1846-8), Mexican dishes began to find their way into American culture – laying the foundations for what would eventually become known as ‘Tex-Mex’ cuisine.
To learn more about the Nopales Castus we use in our "Chicken Enchilada Casserole", please follow this link.
Bon Appétit!
Your Master Keto Chef Janine