In my house there is an unspoken stigma about leftovers. Unless it's Chinese food or pizza my family just won't eat them. They sit in the fridge in a sad state of denial from everyone and they eventually pass the point of no return. There's been a lot of new coverage about the amount of waste we as Americans contribute to the culinary world. Approximately 40% of the food in America goes to waste. I'm not going to smother you with statistics but this number alone should raise a flag. It certainly does with me and so I do everything I can to make sure that I don't add to this number, but they hate Leftovers! So I am left with one choice, a leftover makeover and not to toot my own horn but I've gotten pretty good at deceiving them, my family not the leftovers. So a typical week I make something with chicken, something meatless, and something with steak or beef. The rest of the nights I repurpose the leftovers. I do this for two reasons, one is obviously to reduce the amount of waste, and the second is just to see if I can. I'll take steak and potatoes and turn it into beef stew or breakfast burritos, barbecue chicken thighs are turned into chicken tacos or chicken tortilla soup and pulled pork sandwiches are made into pork nachos or one of my favorites-Cubanos. Of course these are examples and what my leftovers are repurposed into are always based on what I have in my fridge as well as my creativity and energy level. I won't lie I usually have some sort of spicy glaze, or green chile in my fridge because it's my favorite and my family’s. So this week I had some smoked chicken leftover from Father's Day that was actually made by my best friends dad, so I decided it needed a little repurposing. I had some leftover honey chipotle glaze from a week ago (the chipotles in this glaze allow for me to keep this item for quite some time and I use it on breakfast quesadillas as well as hot ham and cheese sandwiches.) So I spent 10 minutes removing the chicken from the smoked chicken thighs, wings, and drum sticks, as well as shredding it. You can always put any meat in your mixer with the paddle attachment for easy shredding but I like hand shredding as it still leaves larger chunks of meat and it's therapeutic for me. It was definitely well worth the 10 minutes. I combined the chicken and about ½ cup chipotle glaze (feel free to use more if you like it spicier), grilled up some corn tortillas, added some crumbled queso fresco, avocados, mangoes, some sautéed onion, and made the most delicious chicken taco, all from some leftover smoked chicken. The best part is my family is none the wiser that their chicken tacos were yesterday's smoked chicken thighs.
Honey-Chipotle Chicken Tacos
rotisserie chicken (or any leftover chicken, about 4 cups) shredded
1 cup crumbled queso fresco
8-10 corn tortillas, grilled or warmed
1 onion, sliced
4 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil divided
2 ripe avocados
1 mango diced
½ cup honey chipotle glaze
Remove chicken from the bone (if on the bone) and shred by hand into smaller pieces. Put in a bowl with the ½ cup honey chipotle glaze. Mix until all chicken is covered in sauce. Cut avocado in half, remove the seed from the avocado and spoon out avocado from its outer layer. Lay avocado down and slice lengthwise. Cut mango on both sides of the core. You will have two large pieces of mango with skin still on. Slice mango length wise and width wise, in a checker board pattern. Using a knife remove the dices from the skin of the mango. Cut onion in half, remove outer layer and slice onion length wise into long strips. Heat sauté pan to medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil into pan. Place sliced onions in pan and sauté until translucent. Heat grill or grill pan. Use 2 tablespoons oil and pastry brush to lightly brush oil on both sides of tortillas. Grill tortillas each side for 1-2 minutes. Crumble queso fresco into small crumbles. To assemble. Place tortilla on plate, layer with chicken, onion slices, avocado, and mango. Sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco.
Honey Chipotle Glaze
1 can chipotle peppers with adobo sauce
1 cup cilantro leaves
¼- ½ honey ( the more honey you have the less spice)
Combine all ingredients in a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Blend until combined and not chunky. You will still have some texture to the final product.
Honey-Chipotle Chicken Tacos
rotisserie chicken (or any leftover chicken, about 4 cups) shredded
1 cup crumbled queso fresco
8-10 corn tortillas, grilled or warmed
1 onion, sliced
4 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil divided
2 ripe avocados
1 mango diced
½ cup honey chipotle glaze
Remove chicken from the bone (if on the bone) and shred by hand into smaller pieces. Put in a bowl with the ½ cup honey chipotle glaze. Mix until all chicken is covered in sauce. Cut avocado in half, remove the seed from the avocado and spoon out avocado from its outer layer. Lay avocado down and slice lengthwise. Cut mango on both sides of the core. You will have two large pieces of mango with skin still on. Slice mango length wise and width wise, in a checker board pattern. Using a knife remove the dices from the skin of the mango. Cut onion in half, remove outer layer and slice onion length wise into long strips. Heat sauté pan to medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons oil into pan. Place sliced onions in pan and sauté until translucent. Heat grill or grill pan. Use 2 tablespoons oil and pastry brush to lightly brush oil on both sides of tortillas. Grill tortillas each side for 1-2 minutes. Crumble queso fresco into small crumbles. To assemble. Place tortilla on plate, layer with chicken, onion slices, avocado, and mango. Sprinkle with crumbled queso fresco.
Honey Chipotle Glaze
1 can chipotle peppers with adobo sauce
1 cup cilantro leaves
¼- ½ honey ( the more honey you have the less spice)
Combine all ingredients in a blender or the bowl of a food processor. Blend until combined and not chunky. You will still have some texture to the final product.
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