In response to the “Leftover Tuesday” challenge on Cooking Chat, I decided to roast two chickens on my rotisserie and figure out what to do with the leftover chicken. 

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants, La Fiesta in Mountain View, CA, has a dish called “Grandma’s Especial,” a chicken dish with a rich and creamy sauce.  It looks like a Chile Colorado sauce mixed with sour cream, ladled on top of cooked chicken.  Yum.  It’s a delicious and rich and warm…perfect for a cold winter evening (and yes, it has been cold here in San Jose).

I read through my cookbooks and found that a basic red chile sauce is fairly easy, so I modified a basic recipe to create my sauce base.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ½ cup New Mexico chile powder (mine was mild to medium hot)
• 3-1/2 cups hot water
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar or 1 packet of Splenda sweetener (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and sauté until golden and aromatic but not brown.  Add the flour and make a roux—only add enough flour until it is all absorbed by the oil.  Stir and cook the roux for a minute or two.  Add the chile powder and mix well, toasting the chile powder while incorporating it and blending it with the roux. 

Add the water, just a little at a time, whisking with a wire whisk until completely incorporated.  You will first have clumps, then a paste, and then a sauce.  Add the oregano, salt, vinegar and bay leaves.  Add the sugar or Splenda if you desire.

Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches a sauce consistency—the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon and holds a line when you run your finger through the sauce.

Makes about 2 cups

Now that I had my base, I wasn’t sure if it would make a finished product identical or close to the dish at the restaurant.  Why?  The sauce was just a bit of chile cooked with water; the sauce in the restaurant had a more subtle flavor.  However, I liked the taste of the sauce, so I went on to create a great sauce with sour cream.  After some of this and that, I came up with a nice little dish.  While it was not the same as the restaurant’s dish, it was rich and tasty and had a nice little heat to it.

• 1 cup Basic Chile Sauce
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup tomato salsa
• 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
• 1/8 to ¼ cup sugar or Splenda (to taste)
• Salt to taste
• 1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch
• Cold water
• Leftover roast chicken (I had the meat from ¾ of a chicken left over)

Heat the chile sauce in a heavy saucepan.  Add the sour cream and mix until completely combined.   Add salsa, butter, sugar or Splenda and mix well.  Taste and add salt as desired.  Simmer while you reheat the chicken.

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized chunks.  Place on a plate into the microwave, and heat on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until warm.  Add chicken, including all accumulated juices, to the sauce. 

Make a slurry:  Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water in a small bowl until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Bring the sauce to a boil, add the slurry, and boil and stir for 1 minute.  Serve with Spanish rice and refried beans.  Serves 6 to 8

FYI, since hubby and I are living a low-carb lifestyle, we ate this over mashed cauliflower.  Yum!