Mexican Lasagna

Ok - this shoots to the top of my list of favorites, no doubt! One of my friends from work (Clare, a super smart attorney who's leaving to go live in the Caribbean and who I WILL be visiting :-) is going to make this and she is going to do an easier version, which I have posted below.

You will note that nothing is seasoned as it's unnecessary since the salsa is packed w flavor and it seeps into everything else.

3 large beefsteak tomatoes
5 tomatillos
1/2 large white onion
1 C packed fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp cumin
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
Corn from 2 ears
Whole chicken
3 C jack cheese
6 flour tortillas
salt/pep

Boil the whole chicken the night before in a large pot filled with water for abt 1.5 hours over medium heat. Put in fridge over night.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Pull the chicken in the pot from the fridge and put it on the stove to warm up. Remove from pot after just warmed and take all meat off carcass (I um, like to do this...) You should end up w about 4 C of shredded chicken.

Food process the first 7 ingredients (this makes your salsa). Boil the corn in the chicken water for 5 minutes then take corn off cobs (reserve chicken water for stock!). Dice the zucchini and squash and saute in pan with Pam until browned (good smoky flavor). Kill the heat on the veggies and add in corn.

Now all that's left is the layering: Add salsa to the bottom of the pan, then two tortillas, then veggies, then chicken, then cheese, then more salsa and repeat as you would a lasagna. Finish with cheese.

Cook, covered w tin foil, for 50 minutes. Remove foil and jack oven up to a broil and broil until golden. Make sure you check CONSTANTLY when you are broiling. It will golden within a matter of minutes and you do NOT wanna ruin this by over broiling. Also, the hardest part of this meal is letting it sit for at least 20 minutes. 30 minutes is perfect.

** Clare substituted one can salsa and one can salsa verde and mixed these for the salsa. She bought a rotisserie chicken and removed meat. She used store bought frozen corn instead. Doing it this way is muuuch easier and makes it a really great go to quick meal. However, if you have the time, do the home made. You will certainly not regret it.