Turkey Suizas Casserole

Turkey Suizas Casserole adapted from Everyday Magazine
2 poblano chile peppers
3 Tbsp EVOO
8 tomatillos, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp honey or agave
1 lime, juiced
1-1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2lbs chopped or pulled cooked turkey
1 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
1 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
1 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
12 corn or 8 flour tortillas, warmed

Directions:  Char the poblanos over burners or under a hot broiler until blackened all over.  Place in a bowl, cover and let sit until cool enough to handle.  Peel, seed and chop.

Preheat the broiler.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the EVOO, 3 turns of the pan.  Add the tomatillos, onion, garlic and bay leaf; season with salt, pepper, the cilantro and cumin.  Cook until tender, about 10 minutes.  Discard the bay leaf.  Add the tomatillo mixture, poblanos, honey and lime juice to a food processor and puree.

In the same skillet, heat the chicken stock over high heat.  Stir in the turkey to reheat, then stir in the tomatillo sauce.

In a medium casserole, layer in half of the turkey mixture and dot with the crema.  Top with half of each of the cheeses and half of the tortillas.  Spread the rest of the turkey on top and layer with the remaining tortillas and then cheese.  Broil until cheese is melted.

Modifications:
-I used chicken breast.  Cut it into strips and browned it.
-I used sour cream instead of crema.

Here's what you'll need:

I cut up the turkey breast.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the poblano peppers on the burner to blacken.  (The pepper will start to pop and sizzle). 

Once the peppers blacken, put them in a bowl and cover them until they cool off.  About 10 minutes or so.

Chop up the tomatillos, cilantro, and garlic.

Chop up an onion.

Cook the tomatillos, onion, and garlic until softened.

Add the cilantro.

While the tomatillos are cooking, de-seed and chop up the peppers.

Put the peppers, tomatillos, onion, garlic, and cilantro into a food processor to puree.

Brown the turkey in a pan.  Once the turkey is cooked add the tomatillo puree.

Add some chicken broth.

Put half of the mixture into a baking dish.  Add the sour cream and the cheese.

Lay tortillas on top.  Keep layering.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Here is our revised version.

Our Thoughts:
This dish had so much flavor and we loved it. 

This was my first experience cooking with tomatillos and if you haven't had them before they taste a little like a green apple and they are delicious.

After having made this dish the way the recipe called for it, we quickly realized that it was too runny so we ended up taking tortillas and rolling the mixture in the tortilla.  This made it much easier to eat.

I want to revisit this recipe with the following changes:
 1. I would probably use ground turkey or may even a rotissierie chicken.  The cut up turkey breast cubes were too large.
 2. I would make this dish up until it was time to put into a baking dish.  I think at this point I would then put it into a crockpot and just let it simmer.
 3. I would let everyone serve themselves.  Great for a football party.

You could also make this hotter by adding a jalapeno in with the peppers.

Hope you enjoy!
April