Chicken and Cheese Flautas

A little while ago I made this recipe for roast chicken from the wonderful Leite's Culinaria website.  It was without question the best, easiest roast chicken I've ever made in my life, and it made for a perfect Sunday dinner.  But it was just me, the Southern husband and the teenager (Home from college for winter break!  Happiness!) and hungry as we were, we were no match for an entire perfect chicken.  So, what to do with the leftovers?

Nice try, but no.  Not with THIS chicken.

Then I remembered this fun and speedy recipe for chicken flautas from none other than the Pillsbury website.  (Why Pillsbury?  I think in addition to those tubes of refrigerator biscuits that we all love and adore, they also make tortillas and salsa. Hmm.)  Anyway, what is a flauta, you ask?  A flauta, my friends, is a tortilla rolled around a filling, such as beef, chicken, or cheese, into a thin cylinder and sometimes deep-fried.  In this case we are going to fill it with a mixture of chicken, shredded cheese, salsa and spices, and we NOT going to deep-fry it.  Nope, we are going to brush it with a little oil and cook it in a skillet until it is golden brown, and then we are going to top it with guacamole and sour cream.  And then we are going to take that first crunchy bite and remember how fabulous it is to have a little leftover roasted chicken in the fridge.


So go try that roasted chicken recipe, and then follow it up with some flautas!


Chicken and Cheese Flautas, from Pillsbury

6 six-inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup salsa
Vegetable oil
Guacamole
Sour cream

• 1. In small bowl, combine cheese, chicken and cumin; mix well.
• 2. Place about 1/4 cup chicken mixture on each warm tortilla. Top each with 1 tablespoon salsa. Roll up tightly; secure each with toothpick. Brush filled tortillas with oil.
• 3. In large skillet, cook filled tortillas over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until filling is hot and tortillas are toasted, turning occasionally. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

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