Mexican Lasagna

By Paul Briand

If you are a recipe hound as I am, you clip or print out your finds and toss them into a book or binder.

Then, in search of inspiration for a meal, you go digging through your recipe book like an archeologist digging through layers of sand.

I went digging the other day and found this recipe for a Rachel Ray Mexican Lasagna. It was one I hadn't made, dating back to October 2009 when I originally printed it out from the FoodNetwork.com.

It's a bit of a variation on the Taco Lasagna recipe that I posted in November of last year.

This is much more like pasta lasagna with lots of gooey layers. With the use of the tortillas this lasagna layers up really well.

A couple of notes: I substituted the red onion with a sweet onion. That's just a personal bias that I don't like to cook with red onion because I think it can be too overpowering at times.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt
8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees;
2. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes.
3. Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.
4. Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.