Stonehenge Roasted Poblano King Ranch Chicken

[Texmex]

My title is tongue and cheek. I have a feud with a guy on another website who thinks you can just put anything in the casserole and call it King Ranch Chicken.

So I veered slightly off the Rotel recipe and thought I better come up with a different name.

King Ranch Chicken casserole uses cooked onions and bell peppers, red and green, two kinds of soup, cheese and Rotel, and the original tells you to tear up soft corn tortillas and put in there. I never liked the soggy soft corn tortillas and so I have always made mine a little different so I have some good crunch.

Tortilla chips are too flimsy for this so I buy one of those packages of crispy tostadas and use several of those broken up into roughly chip sizes. And I stand them up all along the edge of the casserole and also stand them up all through the middle of it after it is already assembled. That's why I called my casserole Stonehenge.

I don't much like bell peppers so I substituted a small roasted poblano. I put in one of those mini peppers and as an afterthought I put in about half a small jar of pimentos because pimentos have just been one of my favorite things lately.

Some of the chips fell over on top but they were all still crisp and it was kind of like you pulled one out and it was sort of like a little nacho on the end. And then you just spoon them out with the rest of the mixture. The texture is so much better that way. But it looks kind of funny.

 

[giggler]

Hi Tex. Great Idea to make more Crunchy. You could even try no chips in dish, then just spoon on top of Tostadas.
If you dont like green bells, lay on the Red. or try Canned or Frozen roasted Hatch. Available most places.
Not a lot of Rules to that Dish. My Mom always made it with Leftover Turkey, the weekend after Thanks Giving!
Eric, Austin Tx.

 

[Texmex]

Hi Tex. Great Idea to make more Crunchy. You could even try no chips in dish, then just spoon on top of Tostadas.
If you dont like green bells, lay on the Red. or try Canned or Frozen roasted Hatch. Available most places.
Not a lot of Rules to that Dish. My Mom always made it with Leftover Turkey, the weekend after Thanks Giving!
Eric, Austin Tx.

The reason I go ahead and stand them up in there is because they come out of the oven not just crispy but hot and crispy. They're toasty. But it sure looks funny! I think turkey would be delicious in it!

I love the flavor of poblanos, so I will put them in instead of bell peppers depending on the dish but I keep one of those little bags of mini yellow orange and red peppers in the freezer at all times and use some of those as well. I used one in this but I need to buy a new bag. Those little mini peppers are great to keep in the freezer but they don't keep forever. They sure come in handy though.

I hadn't made that dish forever but I need to make it more often. I've decided I like sharp cheddar cheese in mine instead of mild.

Original recipe calls for 12 soft tortillas which is an awful lot. I just don't like it that way. But using those tostadas, it only took about five of them.