Recipe: Causa Rellena

If I don't think about what I am going to eat between Fridays and Sundays on Thursdays then I have to consider getting a sandwich from the cafeteria which I found not to be too appetizing and so I have been thinking/planning my weekend meals ahead of time.

The first week that I was working at the gym, I got lucky and my grandmother gave me leftover vegan eggplant Parmesan for the entire weekend. Last week I made chicken salad with rotisserie chicken, celery, walnut, fresh basil, and for dressing I used Newman's Own Ranch Dressing.

This week I am planning to make Causa Rellena, a Peruvian chicken salad with potato and avocado.

Here is the recipe that I took from http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/fusionfare/r/causa.htm since I am too lazy to type it up myself, lol, but I am making small changes.

Ingredients:

• 8 yellow potatoes (about 2-3 pounds)       I am going to use 4 potatoes only since I don't want the potato layers to be too thick.
• 3 fresh yellow chile peppers                      I am skipping this,
• 2 gloves garlic                                          and this,
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter         so don't need this.
• 3 limes                                                     I use juice of two limes for potatoes and the third one for the avocado.
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise                                 I use instead 6 tablespoon Newman's Own Ranch Dressing.
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1 ripe avocado
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Black olives for decoration
• Parsley for decoration

Preparation:

• Cook the potatoes in salted water until soft. Peel the potatoes and pass them through a potato ricer (or mash them), then set aside.
• Remove the seeds from the chili peppers, and saute them in vegetable oil with the garlic until softened. Place them in a food processor or blender, along with the juice of the 3 limes, and salt/pepper to taste. Process until smooth. Stir lime/chile mixture into the potatoes.
• Poach the chicken in water seasoned with salt, pepper. Shred the cooked chicken, and mix with the mayonnaise and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• On a plate (I use Pyrex dish which makes it easier to construct the layers and keeps the salad fresh), shape half of the mashed potato mixture into a square or rectangle. Cover with the chicken in a smooth layer. Layer with slices of avocado. Layer the other half of the potato mixture on top and smooth with a knife. Decorate the top with parsley leaves, slices of hard-boiled eggs, and olive halves.

Serve chilled.

When you spread the chicken and avocado over the first layer of potato it gets hard to shape the second layer of potato smoothly on top of them. So I smooth the first layer in the dish, then remove it and use it for the top layer. To easily remove the layer from the dish I lay a plastic wrap sheet in the bottom of my dish, and make it a bit longer so I could hold the end to remove the potato layer easily from the dish without touching it.

Also instead of slicing avocado, I mash them and combine with the juice of one lime before spreading them on top of chicken.

Then I take the potato layer I made first, and turn it over the chicken with plastic wrap still attached on the other side. This way other than the fact that I am storing my salad in Pyrex dish, there is a plastic wrap over the potato on top which keeps it fresher.

Nutrition Info:

• 4 yellow potatoes has 400 calories, 0g fat, 104g carbs, 12g fiber, 12g sugar, and 16g protein.
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts has 404 calories, 16.4g fat, 0g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugar, and 60.2g protein.
• 1 avocado has 276 calories, 27.64g fat, 1.4g carbs, 4.3g fiber, 0g sugar, and 1.4g protein.
• 3 limes has 60 calories, 0.3g fat, 21.3g carbs, 5.7g fiber, 3.3g sugar, and 1.5g protein.
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard has 3 calories, 0.2g fat, 0.3g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g sugar, and 0.2g protein.
• 6 tablespoon Newman's Own Ranch Dressing has 450 calories, 48g fat, 6g carbs, 0g fiber, 3g sugar, and 0g protein.
• Make 6 servings, each having 265.5 calories, 15.4g fat, 22.2g carbs, 3.7g fiber, 3g sugar, and 13g protein.

Off to the grocery store.